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May 21, 2006
Greatest* Book
There's a nifty little feature in the NY Times Book Review this week. The editors did a poll looking for the "the single best work of American fiction published in the last 25 years." Beloved came out on top, which I'm not really happy about although I can't say exactly why. I've read four of the top five (alas, no Updike for me) which made me feel wonderfully self satisfied.
Whenever I see a list like this, I'm newly surprised at how specific good writing is, or at least modern writing. It seems like the Great Books should deal with really archetypal topics, like Paradise Lost or Our Town. But Beloved tells a unique story about ex-slaves in southern Ohio and Philip Roth (with a whole mess of books getting a few votes each) LOVES to write about the Jews of northern New Jersey. It's interesting to see that the more we accept diversity into our daily lives, the more meticulously we tend to chronicle our own particular histories.
Of course, hearing about a list makes me wonder what I would choose. I loved Underworld and really admired Blood Meridian but I think I'd have trouble putting either at the top of my list. I'm tempted to say Housekeeping, which is possibly the most precise and beautiful book I've ever read, but I did have some trouble pushing though it without, um, dozing off from time to time. LIfe of Pi would probably be my final choice, but it's not by an American. Neither is Cloud Atlas. I think all of those are Great Books, but I don't really feel comfortable choosing one. And for as much as I love The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and Infinite Jest, I think those are both great books, not Great Books.
The really fascinating part, though, is the part they don't tell you: who voted for what. There's a list of judges that is pretty amazing (Harold Bloom, Don DeLillo, Ian McEwan) but apparently there was a confidentiality clause in the voting because one isn't told the particular choices of each judge. That's where the real money is.
Posted by Drew at May 21, 2006 10:16 PM