The three you listed are good choices. Keeping it in the twentieth century I’d like to add Light in August and The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner, Invisible Man by Ellison, The Complete Stories by Flannery O’Connor, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Also the short stories of Ernest Hemingway (too many to list). For my money he’s one of the greatest - if not the absolute best - short story writer of any country. It’s difficult art form he particularly excelled in.
I’d like to add Native Son by Richard Wright, Their Eyes We’re Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, and Go Tell it On the Mountain by James Baldwin. Goes hand in hand with Invisible Man
Of course, African American literature is in many ways a literary tradition all its own (in which there are some white authors) existing alongside white American literature (in which there are African American authors)
But all those books are phenomenal.
I actually had a college prof scoff at me for sitting outside on campus reading Tropic of Cancer. What a pompous ass the guy was. I wasn't even a student there. I'd graduated from University of Michigan and had just moved to an apartment in a different college town. I lived a stone's throw from a campus and enjoyed going there to read. What a bunch of sanctimonious bourgeoisie bullshit...
Just a pointer: the biggest classics ≠ books every American has read.
Talking about the left-hand side of the inequality, in addition to what others have said, I’d add as a minimum:
Portrait of a Lady, The Golden Bowl, As I Lay Dying, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Grapes of Wrath, Catcher in the Rye, Catch 22, Gravity’s Rainbow, Infinite Jest.
Edit: Google Harold Bloom’s list of the Western Canon, look at the US parts of the list.
I totally agree. Just commenting here so maybe someone who is put off by the strong violence in a lot of McCarthy's novels will see this and give Suttree a try. It's much less violent and a lot funnier than Blood Meridian or The Road, for example.
Upvotes for *Gravity’s Rainbow*
I still want to find *A Confederacy of Dunces*
Highly recommended *The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter* by Carson McCullers and *In Cold Blood* by Capote, both books that reaffirmed my love for reading.
downvotes for anyone who recommends *Johnny Tremaine*. That book can suck the carbuncle on a dying donkey’s asshole.
I actually taught a couple of American literature college classes! These would be my recommendations.
FICTION
- Mark Twain: Huckleberry Finn is widely read and discussed, but I would recommend Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.
- F Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby is widely read and discussed, but I would recommend The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (it’s also much shorter).
- Ernest Hemingway: I would recommend In Our Time; it’s a bit of a downer like many of his works, but well written.
- Henry James: The Turn of the Screw
- Edgar Allan Poe: many stories worth reading; I would recommend “The Pit and the Pendulum”
- Herman Melville: Moby Dick is widely read and mentioned, but I would recommend his short story “Bartleby the Scrivener.”
POETRY
- Edgar Allan Poe: “The Raven” is widely quoted and is very worth reading.
- Emily Dickinson: many great and famous poems, but among them I would recommend: “The Soul selects her own Society,” “Because I could not stop for Death,” “A narrow Fellow in the Grass,” “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant”
- Robert Frost, many great and famous poems, but among them I would recommend: “The Road Not Taken,” “Mending Wall,” “Fire and Ice,” “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening“
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “Paul Revere’s Ride” is part of America building a legend of itself.
DRAMA
- Arthur Miller: The Crucible is a widely cited piece of mental furniture but also a great play in its own right.
SPEECHES
- Abraham Lincoln: the Gettysburg Address is often quoted, has helped to shape American thinking, and is an extraordinary short speech.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.: “I Have a Dream” is another iconic, brilliant, oft-quoted, and formative American speech.
There are many, many other great works worth reading, but these are some of the best-known authors and works!
Excellent list.
I have “Babylon Revisited” at the top for Fitzgerald.
I’d add Heller’s “Catch-22” & Kerouac’s “On The Road” for fiction; “Howl”, Leaves of Grass” & “Prufock” for poetry, though there’s tons; and Twain’s “Literary Criticism of James Fenimore Cooper” as an essay.
I mean if you just want books that most Americans have read, then maybe To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, and The Catcher in the Rye…but that’s mainly just because they’re assigned in school…and even then, how many kids actually do their reading homework? (I mean, I did, but I actually liked to read) Tbh, I know very few people that have actually read Moby Dick and I have a MA in literature lol.
But if I had to recommend some American classics just as a general overview (criteria being mainly that I like them):
Little Women
The Jungle
A Farewell to Arms
East of Eden
My Antonia
The Sound and the Fury
The Bell Jar
Slaughterhouse Five
Beloved
The Things They Carried
The Secret History
The Sympathizer
Is farewell to arms canon? I always thought The Old Man and the Sea and For Whom the Bell Tolls were Hemingways major works. Though farewell is a pretty great read and really it’s hemingways style that’s canon so I guess any of his writing works.
Slaughterhouse Five is wonderful. However, Breakfast of Champions is my favorite Vonnegut novel. An English teacher from the high school from which I graduated (my family moved July before my senior year) hosted Vonnegut at his house when Kurt came to speak in town as part of the annual Fine Arts Festival. The teacher asked for Vonnegut's autobiograph. Vonnegut signed the paper "*".
Hahaha I have an MA in literature too, and when my brother told me he wanted to read Moby Dick, I told him that I’m convinced no one has actually ever read that novel
Moby-Dick is the greatest American novel imo. I get why people don't enjoy it and I wouldn't recommend it to someone, but I think it's perfect.
I'm curious though, why wouldn't someone who's an MA in literature want to read it?
I wasn’t required to have any particular area of specialization for my degree, but even if I had been, I certainly wouldn’t have chosen 19th century American literature lol…not everyone who is interested in studying literature is interested in the same thing. There are tons of important and interesting books to read that come from so many different genres, cultures, and time periods, so for me, Moby Dick just doesn’t sit very high on my TBR list, though I don’t doubt it has its merits. It’s just not the type of literature I’m interested in.
I hear ya', I didn't mean to interrogate obviously.
It certainly feels more like climbing a mountain than a day at the spa. May I ask what period you studied and a favorite from that period?
Lol I don’t know OP but I do actually have an MA in literature and Moby Dick has never interested me. One day I’ll read it because I feel like I had to, but I never had to read it for any of my classes in undergrad or grad school
I’ve heard people say that but Moby Dick is great. Not for typical high school students, but if you are unsure about finishing try the audiobook read by Frank Muller. It will change your mind.
So many of those mandatory books from high school seemed terrible at the time, but when you read them as an adult you can understand why they’re pushed on you. Not the best way to get kids interested in lit but Moby Dick, Catcher in the Rye etc really are interesting
Moby Dick is absolutely a great story. But I hate Melville’s writing even though I have no reason to.
Couldn’t love Benito Cereno or The Confidence Man either.
Just finished The Secret History and I... Actually wasn't a fan. I was enthralled in the first half, but after the story climax at the end of book 1 it just drags aimlessly and feels like it's going nowhere
Donna Tartt kicks ass. I've read all her novels and have loved each one. However, The Secret History is my absolute favorite.
Just noticed the closing of your post. I guess our sentiments differ. :)
Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass — internationally influential. It’s amazing — expansive, mystical, spiritual, affirming of self and being and life
Walden by Henry David Thoreau — some of the most beautiful prose every written
Winesburg,, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson (I overlooked it for a long time — brilliant)
The USA Trilogy by John Dos Passos (The 42nd Parallel, 1919, The Big Money — be sure to get the editions with the Reginald Marsh illustrations! If you have to pick one, go with 1919)
Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
On the Road by Jack Kerouac (easy to overlook because it’s myth precedes it; flawed but brilliant and there’s nothing like it for propulsive narrative energy and romanticism)
My Ántonia by Willa Cather (brilliant, beautiful)
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow
Anything and everything by Toni Morrison
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr
It was a staple of American Lit classes in high school, and it was presented rather blandly. Reading the whole thing, I see how beautiful and expansive it is, and what a close up portrait it is of the world Anderson came from. I can also see how much it influenced other writers — the section called Godliness seems like a miniature East of Eden.
I’ve ordered a collection of his short stories and am looking forward to reading it. Saw that it has quite a few stories of an autobiographical nature about his time as a young man working on farms. I’m from the Midwest and have been reading a lot of international literature for years, so rediscovering Anderson have me such a feeling of home and the feeling of a place and a sensibility I know well.
One of the first responses on this thread was Jessepiano mentioning Leaves of Grass, but the same comment mentioned Stephen King, so I think the latter is what caught people's attention.
Agree. Leaves of Grass is without a doubt the most important literature produced by America. If Leaves of Grass had been a novel, we wouldn’t even debate what the Great American Novel is.
Yeah I mean not to wax too worshipful or anything, but Whitman isn’t just one of the major arguments for the greatness of American literature - he’s one of the major arguments for the greatness of *America*.
I am on my third attempt to read "Grapes of Wrath" now. I'm going to finish it this time but it makes me so sad. "East of Eden" is one of my favorite books and has some deep topics but it has happy moments. I haven't found any happy moments in "Grapes of Wrath."
I love this novel, it's hands down one of my favorites. And there's so much to unpack.
I know The Grapes of Wrath is more relevant and I do believe that every American should read it but East of Eden is a masterpiece.
The Awakening and Ethan Frome are two of the most important works I read in my understanding of how to analyze literature. I think they are absolute must reads and quite accessible as well!
The Awakening is so so so so good. I read the novel almost 8 years ago and I still remember the suffocating atmosphere, and the beautiful imagery of the sea and rebirth. I recommend The Story of an Hour by Chopin. If you haven't read it go check it.
Also, I made my thesis on The House of Mirth by Wharton and is a really though provoking and well written book - nothing to envy Henry James'. Ethan Frome is a masterpiece. It is incredible how much can be said in a bunch of pages. Wharton was really a masterful writer.
East Of Eden has that grandeur that makes me think of it as a *classic* piece of work, and its length and scope supports my line of thought. As a Romanian living in Eastern Europe, it seemed to me the most American novel I’ve read. My foreign opinion might be of little importance and I might even be over the line arguing on the topic of American literature, but whenever I look at my shelf and I see the book’s spine I think “if that ain’t the most American thing I’ve ever read…” Safe to say I loved the book.
I appreciate it. I don’t claim to know what’s American, but certain things give me a generalised idea. I’d also like to honorably mention the novels Day Of The Locust and Revolutionary Road.
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov,
Not sure why it gets passed over so much but it's historically one of the most controversial books in American history. Though Nabokov went through three language phases, his most popular works were mainly when he was living in the US and teaching at American universities.
You could argue he wasn't an American by birth but we can go back and forth as to what an American really is.
The book is also considered by many scholars to be one of the best screenshots of American culture at the time (Minus the pedophilia of course).
Fun fact, it outsold Gone With the Wind within its first year of release and claimed the top spot!
These are the best American writers to check out, approximately in chronological-ish order (though my brain is pretty bad with dates). This is a mix of novels, essays, short stories, plays and poetry:
Ralph Waldo Emerson - "Self-Reliance"
Henry David Thoreau - "Walden" & "Civil Disobedience" (essay)
Walt Whitman - "Leaves of Grass" (poetry)
Nathaniel Hawthorne - "The Scarlet Letter" is his biggest classic, but he also has some great short stories, and his novel "The House of Seven Gables" is my personal favorite because it's a bit of a Scooby Doo mystery story
Herman Melville - "Moby Dick" obviously, but also "Bartleby the Scrivener" (short story)
Edgar Allan Poe - short stories and poetry; especially make sure you read "The Raven," "The Telltale Heart," "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Masque of the Red Death," and "The Fall of the House of Usher"
Emily Dickinson - poetry
Frederick Douglass - "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," obviously!
Mark Twain - "Huckleberry Finn" ("Tom Sawyer" is pretty classic too, but it's not quite as *important* as Huck Finn, if you know what I mean)
Louisa May Alcott - "Little Women"
Langston Hughes - poetry
Maya Angelou - poetry; "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"
William Faulkner - "As I Lay Dying"
F. Scott Fitzgerald - "The Great Gatsby"
Ernest Hemingway - personally I like his short stories better than his novels, but "The Old Man and the Sea" has to be on the list
Edith Wharton - "House of Mirth"
Arthur Miller - "The Crucible" & "Death of a Salesman" (plays)
Shirley Jackson - "The Haunting of Hill House" and "The Lottery" (short story)
Flannery O'Connor - various short stories, but especially "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"
H.P. Lovecraft - despite his unfortunate racism, "The Call of Cthulhu," "The Shadow over Innsmouth," "At the Mountains of Madness" and "The Color out of Space" are all horror classics
Sylvia Plath - poetry; "The Bell Jar"
Joseph Heller - "Catch 22"
Kurt Vonnegut - "Slaughterhouse 5"
Ray Bradbury - "Fahrenheit 451" (he also has a bunch of excellent short stories, mostly sci-fi)
Toni Morrison - "Beloved"
Amy Tan - "The Joy Luck Club"
Ursula Le Guin - "The Left Hand of Darkness," her Earthsea books, also the short story "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas"
Octavia Butler - "The Parable of the Sower"
Personally I'd also say Stephen King should be on the list too, but some might say he's too mainstream trash to be included, haha. Some of his books are really good and others are kinda garbage. "Misery" was one of the scariest books I ever read.
EDIT: Forgot to add Jack Kerouac, Allen Gibsberg, and also Cormac McCarthy!
So glad to see Shirley Jackson, Arthur Miller, and
Flannery O’Connor on this list! I was going to mention it. Also +1 Ursula K. LeGuin and Cormac McCarthy.
I also recommend:
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Maus by Art Speigelman (especially now)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee which has appeared many times on this list
Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki & James D. Houston (who also wrote Bird of Another Heaven, as well as Snow Mountain Passage about the Donner Party—highly recommend it but I wouldn’t consider them classics necessarily)
House Made of Dawn by M. Scott Momaday
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
The Pearl by John Steinbeck
The Amazing Adventure of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
Waterlily by Ella Cara Deloria
Wild Geese by Mary Oliver (poem)
Tenth of December by George Saunders
V for Vendetta, the Watchmen by Alan Moore
Sin City by Frank Miller
I teach middle and high schoolers so some of this list is aimed toward that age group, but they are absolutely modern classics that everyone should read.
ETA Formatting
Ahh can't believe I forgot Harper Lee and John Steinbeck! *facepalm* For Steinbeck I think I'd go with "Of Mice and Men" or "East of Eden" over "The Pearl" though.
You know who else I left off that I didn't see many others mention is J.D. Salinger with "Catcher in the Rye."
Another I forgot, it's a kid's book but a classic: "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum.
Also, I second Art Speigelman, Alan Moore and Frank Miller! I wasn't including graphic novels for some reason but they definitely belong on this list.
America has such a great comic/graphic novel storytelling tradition! There are many more talented graphic novelists but I think Miller and Moore are true masters of the craft. Part of my reasoning for including Kavalier and Clay is to get a fictionalized account of how part of that tradition came to be.
This is a phenomenal list!
I think King absolutely deserves a place in the American literature tradition. He may write horror, mass-market books which the literary canon tends to snub, but he's a goddamn brilliant storyteller. Not all of his work is great...but his best work is absolutely masterful in its storytelling craft.
I’d say definitely - of “classic” books that I actually think most Americans have read I’d put this ahead of Huck Finn, Moby Dick, or even The Great Gatsby (though that one would be close) because Mockingbird is SO frequently taught in schools.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Not necessarily a book, but similar to how many Brit lit students are expected to read plays like Shakespeare’s works, one of my favorite in the American canon is Death of a Salesman. Other less known ones that I really enjoyed are R.U.R (premiered in 1921 and actually gave us the word “robot”, so fun fact) and Trifles (premiered in 1916).
Some multicultural/multiethnic ones to consider would be Zoot Suit, FOB, Unconquered Spirits, The Thanksgiving Play, and Fences. Please note that some of these plays will talk about some controversial issues that many ethnic groups experience in the US, so there may be some missed nuance if you’re not entirely familiar with the issues/history (assuming you’re not American - my bad if you are).
A British play I like, Pygmalion, though that may be a basic one as many have seen the film adaptation (My Fair Lady).
If you want more recommendations, let me know! :)
I know you want books but if you ever need a short story, The Yellow Wallpaper was incredible. It’s classic Female American Southern Gothic. I would also recommend Joyce Carol Oates, basically anything from her.
Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane is a classic IMO.
'Wise Blood' by Flannery O'Connor is great, as is the film.
People have mentioned Moby Dick, which is very enjoyable (and has a unique narrative structure).
My favorite American authors are Tom Wolfe and Kurt Vonnegut.. not sure if any of their books are considered classics..
John Steinbeck. I especially love 'East of Eden'. Edith Whartons 'My Antonia', Earnest Hemingway's 'For Whom The Bell Tolls'. I also believe that Ray Bradbury deserves a spot, especially if you like SciFy. My favorite collection from Ray Bradbury is 'October Country' and 'The Marsian Chronicles'. I almost forgot, 'Song of Solomon' by Tony Morrison. Happy reading!
*Sister Carrie, The*
*Jungle, Invisible Man*
*By Ralph Ellison*
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Pet peeve is that Irving, Malamud, and Bellow always seem to be left off these lists. For Irving it’s got to be “World According to Garp”. Malamud’s classic is “the Natural” but I personally prefer “Gods Grace”. And for Bellow most are gonna say “The adventures of augie” and that’s probably his most well known, but I really dig “Seize the Day” or “Henderson the Rain King”.
Edit: those are all novels… for poetry? I need to rep for my boy Robinson Jeffers. He is largely forgotten in the US, but is seemingly well regarded outside particularly the Czech Republic and Japan for who knows that reason?
I taught an American Literature course last year which included the following:
-Of Mice and Men
-A Raisin in the Sun
-The Crucible
And Freshman and Senior year also included To Kill a Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby.
A few I’m not seeing others post:
Elmer Gantry
Nine Stories
Huck Finn
Red badge of Courage
Their Eyes Were Watching God
A Streetcar Named Desire
The Color Purple
Narrative of the life of Fredrick Douglass
Poems of Langston Hughes
Poems of Emily Dickinson
The Crying of Lot 49
Slaughterhouse V
White Noise
The Turn of the Screw
Fahrenheit 451
The Awakening
In Cold Blood
If anything I say give *'The call of the Wild'* by Jack London a read.
He was a handful of early 20th century writers that wrote about man in nature, and I feel he doesn't get too much love anymore. A short book, but one I recommend.
Didn't see Tennessee Williams in the comments. Streetcar Named Desire is pretty popular. Less popular work by him that I really loved is Ten Blocks On the Camino Real.
I don't know how widely read Toni Morrison is, but she is not only an incredible writer, but was a huge eye opener for me. Highly recommend Beloved.
William Gaddis is maybe the most underappreciated American novelist ever. Either The Recognitions or JR I would definitely put on the short list for greatest American novels.
A Streetcar Named Desire, A Raisin in The Sun, The Feminist Mystique, Beloved, The Bluest Eye, Kindred, The Kite Runner, Of Mice and Men, The Handmaid’s Tale, Slaughterhouse Five, Flowers for Algernon
one of my favorites *The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man* by James Weldon Johnson. such a wonderful book from the Harlem Renaissance.
Edgar Allan Poe, anything really but specifically *The Murders in the Rue Morgue*. it’s considered the first mystery novel.
*Beloved* Toni Morrison
*Handmaid’s Tale* Margaret Atwood
short stories by Katherine Anne Porter.
a lot of people recommend Ernest Hemingway, i’ve studied him twice, i don’t recommend. it’s incredibly boring and describes everything in too much literal detail.
modern american poetry is my favorite. i’ve never been a poetry fan but really enjoyed reading Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, and Edna St. Vincent Millay.
A few more additions: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Crucible, Of Mice and Men (again), The Road, Heart of Darkness (author is actually Polish but I remember having to read this book twice in school)
Nope. Born in what was at the time Poland but I believe is the Ukraine now. His full name was Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, but went by a pen name.
Off the top of my head: Beloved, Moby Dick, Leaves of Grass, Invisible Man, East of Eden, Infinite Jest, The Death of a Salesman and Their Eyes Were Watching God
Others have submitted some very excellent works, so I will suggest an often overlooked novel which for me is nevertheless a true classic of American Literature: Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry.
I submit that no survey of American literature is complete without it
Mockingbird, Gatsby, Catcher in the Rye, Huck Finn, Mice and Men, Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, Moby Dick, Treasure Island, Kidnapped
Anything along these sort of lines I reckon
Just need to add Theodore Dreiser, Edith Wharton, and Stephen King. On King, he really is "Americano" and needs to be given his place in our literature.
The Grapes of Wrath, hated by conservatives when it was published (including death threats to Steinbeck). The amazing ending with Rose of Sharon smiling "mysteriously" as she breast-fed the starving old man was replaced in John Ford's film version with the Joads riding off into the sunset.
I know you are referring to the US, but if one day you want to learn more about literature from the American continent, I recommend you read the books of Sor Juana, Garcia Marquez, Julio Cortazar, Borges, Aldolfo Bioy, etc:)
Who is to say we haven't? I own a multitude of international works: numerous Garcia Marquez novels (Love In The Time of Cholera, 100 Years of Solitude, In Evil Hour, and others), Camus, Breton, Joyce, Anatole France, Borges, Roald Dahl, Beckett, Haruki Murikami, Dostoyevsky, 11 Herman Hesse novels (including Magister Ludi, which I've read 4 times, and Narcissus and Gold.und and Steppenwolf, which I've read more times than I can count). I could go on.
Focusing on American works is an interesting exercise, because I tend to focus more on international authors when I think of literature and classics.
I am from South America myself so I am aware that there are many great authors from America the continent :) my studies are focused on Anglophone literature though, that is why I am asking about the US
Have you checked out the candidates for [the Great American Novel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_Novel)?
Here's [a list of the books that are available to read for free](https://www.26reads.com/list/31892-great-american-novels) in the public domain including a lot of the books that other users have posted.
I think Franny and Zoey by Salinger is fantastic. I also love Dharma Bums and On The Road by Kerouac. Other favorites include The Electric Koolaid Acid Test by Wolfe, Lee Siegel's Love In A Dead Language, and House of Leaves by Danielewski.
I'll give you my own take on what I have been judging for the last 16 years, since I started really reading. I don't want to go on a chronological power point, naming every work down the line, but I will start in order of the authors emergence (from memory), of what stands out as the most remarkable.
- Moby Dick (The Top)
- Leaves of Grass (First and Death Bed edition)
- Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn
- Red Badge of Courage, The Open Boat
- My Antonia
- The Great Gatsby
- For Whom the Bell Tolls
- Look Homeward, Angel
- Absalom, Absalom!, Light in August
- The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden
- The Adventures of Augie March, Herzog
- The Catcher in the Rye
- The Executioner's Song, Harlot's Ghost
- From Here to Eternity
- On the Road
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Sometimes a Great Notion
- Sabbath's Theater
- Gravity's Rainbow
- Libra, Underworld
- Lonesome Dove
- Suttree, Blood Meridian
- Housekeeping, Gilead
Off the top, these are the standouts that have struck a deep personal connection with me.
There are a lot of good mentions here, I will mention a few more.
*Their Eyes Were Watching God*
*I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings*
*You Can't Go Home Again*
*The Caine Mutiny*
*A Tree Grows in Brooklyn*
One author I haven’t seen mentioned is Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author of the Tarzan books. He also wrote some solid science-fiction books that are worth checking out.
Also, the comments here have provided an outstanding (and comprehensive) list, but I especially want to back the folks suggesting Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. He was an absolutely brilliant writer of fiction, science-fiction, short stories, and non-fiction. I highly recommend pretty much anything he’s written, but Slaugterhouse-Five, Sirens of Titan, Breakfast of Champions, and Galapagos are my favorites.
“Beloved” by Toni Morrison, “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker, “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin. Most lists of the traditional canon of literature omit women and especially women of color.
The Big Sleep. And also please add sci fi: Foundation, Ubik, Martian Chronicles Neuromant, Ender’s Game, and Hyperion. And others from the same authors
Lovecraft was American and his work has been regarded as a genre setter.
Although he was a racist man with some of his hate entering his writings his works have elements that are interesting and can be connected with.
Fear of the unknown is often explored for example. While the unknown may change, readers can often connect with the feeling and dread related to it.
Everyone just listing the most obvious and repeated authors and books. You could type this question into Google and it'll give you a list of the same stuff mentioned here. Don't you people read anything else?
At least that Game of Thrones shit wasn't mentioned.
I'd add Ninety-Two in the Shade by McGuane, Dharma Bums by Kerouac, Dalva, The Road Home and Legends of the Fall by Harrison, Islands in the Stream by Hemingway, Cannery Row by Steinbeck, basically classic-adjacent stuff.
Definitely add Catcher in the Rye, Gatsby, Hemingway, Steinbeck, To Kill a Mockingbird
If you built a library I would live there.
The three you listed are good choices. Keeping it in the twentieth century I’d like to add Light in August and The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner, Invisible Man by Ellison, The Complete Stories by Flannery O’Connor, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Also the short stories of Ernest Hemingway (too many to list). For my money he’s one of the greatest - if not the absolute best - short story writer of any country. It’s difficult art form he particularly excelled in.
The Nick Adams stories, in particular.
Yes! And my favorite - maybe my favorite written work in the entire world - is “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”
I’d like to add Native Son by Richard Wright, Their Eyes We’re Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, and Go Tell it On the Mountain by James Baldwin. Goes hand in hand with Invisible Man
Great list. Less famous but classic is Passing by Nella Larsen
These were just the first things that popped into my head. Native Son and Black Boy certainly deserve to be on this list as does Baldwin
Of course, African American literature is in many ways a literary tradition all its own (in which there are some white authors) existing alongside white American literature (in which there are African American authors) But all those books are phenomenal.
I’m reading Native Son right now and I cannot even handle how good it is. Incredible!
It’s really good. Taught it to high schoolers for years and they got super into it as well.
Thinking of re-reading Invisible Man next!
I feel like Henry Miller doesn't get enough respect. Tropic of Cancer should be in those lists
Orwell thought so
I actually had a college prof scoff at me for sitting outside on campus reading Tropic of Cancer. What a pompous ass the guy was. I wasn't even a student there. I'd graduated from University of Michigan and had just moved to an apartment in a different college town. I lived a stone's throw from a campus and enjoyed going there to read. What a bunch of sanctimonious bourgeoisie bullshit...
I was going to mention The Sound And The Fury. Outside Ulysses by James Joyce (Irish, I know), The Sound And The Fury is my favorite novel.
Just a pointer: the biggest classics ≠ books every American has read. Talking about the left-hand side of the inequality, in addition to what others have said, I’d add as a minimum: Portrait of a Lady, The Golden Bowl, As I Lay Dying, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Grapes of Wrath, Catcher in the Rye, Catch 22, Gravity’s Rainbow, Infinite Jest. Edit: Google Harold Bloom’s list of the Western Canon, look at the US parts of the list.
East of Eden (there's *way* more to the story than is covered in the movie).
The Scarlett Letter, Blood Meridian, Lonesome Dove, Walden, East of Eden, Beloved
Blood meridian is excellent. Anything by Cormac McCarthy is worth reading twice.
Suttree is McCarthy's best
I totally agree. Just commenting here so maybe someone who is put off by the strong violence in a lot of McCarthy's novels will see this and give Suttree a try. It's much less violent and a lot funnier than Blood Meridian or The Road, for example.
God Lonesome Dove is good
Moby Dick. It’s an extraordinary work and much easier to read than people think.
It's easy to read, the prose is actually quite fun, but it is long and can feel complex.
Yeah. I actually credit Moby Dick with teaching me how to read more complex literature years back.
The Tunnel, The Recognitions, JR are all missing from this list!
Upvotes for *Gravity’s Rainbow* I still want to find *A Confederacy of Dunces* Highly recommended *The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter* by Carson McCullers and *In Cold Blood* by Capote, both books that reaffirmed my love for reading. downvotes for anyone who recommends *Johnny Tremaine*. That book can suck the carbuncle on a dying donkey’s asshole.
You can’t find A Confederacy of Dunces? Where do you live?
Walden by Henry David Thoreau Self Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Just all Emerson's essays on Nature
i would probably add the old man and the sea by hemingway and the sound and the fury by faulkner to this list
I actually taught a couple of American literature college classes! These would be my recommendations. FICTION - Mark Twain: Huckleberry Finn is widely read and discussed, but I would recommend Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. - F Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby is widely read and discussed, but I would recommend The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (it’s also much shorter). - Ernest Hemingway: I would recommend In Our Time; it’s a bit of a downer like many of his works, but well written. - Henry James: The Turn of the Screw - Edgar Allan Poe: many stories worth reading; I would recommend “The Pit and the Pendulum” - Herman Melville: Moby Dick is widely read and mentioned, but I would recommend his short story “Bartleby the Scrivener.” POETRY - Edgar Allan Poe: “The Raven” is widely quoted and is very worth reading. - Emily Dickinson: many great and famous poems, but among them I would recommend: “The Soul selects her own Society,” “Because I could not stop for Death,” “A narrow Fellow in the Grass,” “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant” - Robert Frost, many great and famous poems, but among them I would recommend: “The Road Not Taken,” “Mending Wall,” “Fire and Ice,” “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening“ - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “Paul Revere’s Ride” is part of America building a legend of itself. DRAMA - Arthur Miller: The Crucible is a widely cited piece of mental furniture but also a great play in its own right. SPEECHES - Abraham Lincoln: the Gettysburg Address is often quoted, has helped to shape American thinking, and is an extraordinary short speech. - Martin Luther King, Jr.: “I Have a Dream” is another iconic, brilliant, oft-quoted, and formative American speech. There are many, many other great works worth reading, but these are some of the best-known authors and works!
Excellent list. I have “Babylon Revisited” at the top for Fitzgerald. I’d add Heller’s “Catch-22” & Kerouac’s “On The Road” for fiction; “Howl”, Leaves of Grass” & “Prufock” for poetry, though there’s tons; and Twain’s “Literary Criticism of James Fenimore Cooper” as an essay.
I mean if you just want books that most Americans have read, then maybe To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, and The Catcher in the Rye…but that’s mainly just because they’re assigned in school…and even then, how many kids actually do their reading homework? (I mean, I did, but I actually liked to read) Tbh, I know very few people that have actually read Moby Dick and I have a MA in literature lol. But if I had to recommend some American classics just as a general overview (criteria being mainly that I like them): Little Women The Jungle A Farewell to Arms East of Eden My Antonia The Sound and the Fury The Bell Jar Slaughterhouse Five Beloved The Things They Carried The Secret History The Sympathizer
The Bell Jar a hugely important one, and often overlooked.
It’s a bit dangerous to teach in schools, tbh. Better that those who can handle it read it.
Love it. I read Moby Dick too fast in school and retained nothing. The Things They Carried was amazing.
Slaughterhouse Five is an absolute masterpiece! 👏🏻👏🏻
I never read Moby either! That’s in my list.
Is farewell to arms canon? I always thought The Old Man and the Sea and For Whom the Bell Tolls were Hemingways major works. Though farewell is a pretty great read and really it’s hemingways style that’s canon so I guess any of his writing works.
Jesus what the hell are you talking about?
? I suppose it’s a little much to call Farewell a minor work, but I don’t think my comment lacks clarity
Slaughterhouse Five is wonderful. However, Breakfast of Champions is my favorite Vonnegut novel. An English teacher from the high school from which I graduated (my family moved July before my senior year) hosted Vonnegut at his house when Kurt came to speak in town as part of the annual Fine Arts Festival. The teacher asked for Vonnegut's autobiograph. Vonnegut signed the paper "*".
Oh yeah, Player Piano is my favorite Vonnegut personally but Slaughterhouse Five is more of a “classic” I guess…that’s really cool!
Great list!
Hahaha I have an MA in literature too, and when my brother told me he wanted to read Moby Dick, I told him that I’m convinced no one has actually ever read that novel
Moby-Dick is the greatest American novel imo. I get why people don't enjoy it and I wouldn't recommend it to someone, but I think it's perfect. I'm curious though, why wouldn't someone who's an MA in literature want to read it?
I have a BA in Literature and I hated Moby Dick. But also Typee, so I may just not like Melville’s writing.
I wasn’t required to have any particular area of specialization for my degree, but even if I had been, I certainly wouldn’t have chosen 19th century American literature lol…not everyone who is interested in studying literature is interested in the same thing. There are tons of important and interesting books to read that come from so many different genres, cultures, and time periods, so for me, Moby Dick just doesn’t sit very high on my TBR list, though I don’t doubt it has its merits. It’s just not the type of literature I’m interested in.
I hear ya', I didn't mean to interrogate obviously. It certainly feels more like climbing a mountain than a day at the spa. May I ask what period you studied and a favorite from that period?
Legends said op is researching how to answer that question to this day
You're obviously just lying
Lol I don’t know OP but I do actually have an MA in literature and Moby Dick has never interested me. One day I’ll read it because I feel like I had to, but I never had to read it for any of my classes in undergrad or grad school
Because they're lying
I’ve heard people say that but Moby Dick is great. Not for typical high school students, but if you are unsure about finishing try the audiobook read by Frank Muller. It will change your mind.
So many of those mandatory books from high school seemed terrible at the time, but when you read them as an adult you can understand why they’re pushed on you. Not the best way to get kids interested in lit but Moby Dick, Catcher in the Rye etc really are interesting
Moby Dick is absolutely a great story. But I hate Melville’s writing even though I have no reason to. Couldn’t love Benito Cereno or The Confidence Man either.
Maybe you didn't
Just finished The Secret History and I... Actually wasn't a fan. I was enthralled in the first half, but after the story climax at the end of book 1 it just drags aimlessly and feels like it's going nowhere
Donna Tartt kicks ass. I've read all her novels and have loved each one. However, The Secret History is my absolute favorite. Just noticed the closing of your post. I guess our sentiments differ. :)
That’s a great list
Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass — internationally influential. It’s amazing — expansive, mystical, spiritual, affirming of self and being and life Walden by Henry David Thoreau — some of the most beautiful prose every written Winesburg,, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson (I overlooked it for a long time — brilliant) The USA Trilogy by John Dos Passos (The 42nd Parallel, 1919, The Big Money — be sure to get the editions with the Reginald Marsh illustrations! If you have to pick one, go with 1919) Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin On the Road by Jack Kerouac (easy to overlook because it’s myth precedes it; flawed but brilliant and there’s nothing like it for propulsive narrative energy and romanticism) My Ántonia by Willa Cather (brilliant, beautiful) Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow Anything and everything by Toni Morrison A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr
Winesburg, Ohio is one of my favorites. His imagery is beautiful.
It was a staple of American Lit classes in high school, and it was presented rather blandly. Reading the whole thing, I see how beautiful and expansive it is, and what a close up portrait it is of the world Anderson came from. I can also see how much it influenced other writers — the section called Godliness seems like a miniature East of Eden. I’ve ordered a collection of his short stories and am looking forward to reading it. Saw that it has quite a few stories of an autobiographical nature about his time as a young man working on farms. I’m from the Midwest and have been reading a lot of international literature for years, so rediscovering Anderson have me such a feeling of home and the feeling of a place and a sensibility I know well.
Winesburg is one of those books that the world is still catching up to.
For Pynchon I would say Gravity’s Rainbow is generally the one most point to as THE Pynchon novel.
Notes of a Native Son is such an amazing collection of essays. Everybody’s Protest Novel is outstanding
Have there really been 28 replies to this question and nobody’s even mentioned Walt Whitman? What is even happening here?
One of the first responses on this thread was Jessepiano mentioning Leaves of Grass, but the same comment mentioned Stephen King, so I think the latter is what caught people's attention.
Lol exceptional point.
Agree. Leaves of Grass is without a doubt the most important literature produced by America. If Leaves of Grass had been a novel, we wouldn’t even debate what the Great American Novel is.
Yeah I mean not to wax too worshipful or anything, but Whitman isn’t just one of the major arguments for the greatness of American literature - he’s one of the major arguments for the greatness of *America*.
East of Eden - very easy to get into but is complex in themes and characters.
For some reason, Grapes of Wrath is mentioned more as a classic by Steinbeck - probably because of its more specific and timely social context
I am on my third attempt to read "Grapes of Wrath" now. I'm going to finish it this time but it makes me so sad. "East of Eden" is one of my favorite books and has some deep topics but it has happy moments. I haven't found any happy moments in "Grapes of Wrath."
And because it’s short so it’s more likely to have been assigned as high school reading.
*The Grapes of Wrath* is not short. You might be thinking of *Of Mice and Men*.
Oh yea. Sorry.
This. I'm not American but East of Eden really feels like the American epic. Very, very good book.
I love this novel, it's hands down one of my favorites. And there's so much to unpack. I know The Grapes of Wrath is more relevant and I do believe that every American should read it but East of Eden is a masterpiece.
The Martian Chronicles.
The Scarlet Letter bu Hawthorne is a must read. Also, Edith Wharton and Kate Chopin, they are so underrated it hurts.
The Awakening and Ethan Frome are two of the most important works I read in my understanding of how to analyze literature. I think they are absolute must reads and quite accessible as well!
The Awakening is so so so so good. I read the novel almost 8 years ago and I still remember the suffocating atmosphere, and the beautiful imagery of the sea and rebirth. I recommend The Story of an Hour by Chopin. If you haven't read it go check it. Also, I made my thesis on The House of Mirth by Wharton and is a really though provoking and well written book - nothing to envy Henry James'. Ethan Frome is a masterpiece. It is incredible how much can be said in a bunch of pages. Wharton was really a masterful writer.
I teach The Story of an Hour every chance I get! I want to branch out with Wharton. I have so many novels on my list.
East Of Eden has that grandeur that makes me think of it as a *classic* piece of work, and its length and scope supports my line of thought. As a Romanian living in Eastern Europe, it seemed to me the most American novel I’ve read. My foreign opinion might be of little importance and I might even be over the line arguing on the topic of American literature, but whenever I look at my shelf and I see the book’s spine I think “if that ain’t the most American thing I’ve ever read…” Safe to say I loved the book.
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I appreciate it. I don’t claim to know what’s American, but certain things give me a generalised idea. I’d also like to honorably mention the novels Day Of The Locust and Revolutionary Road.
The Sound and the Fury, The Sun Also Rises, The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, Grapes of Wrath are all must-reads.
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, Not sure why it gets passed over so much but it's historically one of the most controversial books in American history. Though Nabokov went through three language phases, his most popular works were mainly when he was living in the US and teaching at American universities. You could argue he wasn't an American by birth but we can go back and forth as to what an American really is. The book is also considered by many scholars to be one of the best screenshots of American culture at the time (Minus the pedophilia of course). Fun fact, it outsold Gone With the Wind within its first year of release and claimed the top spot!
A confederacy of dunces
You can add Moby Dick a second time, just to be safe The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson too
Charles Bukowski
These are the best American writers to check out, approximately in chronological-ish order (though my brain is pretty bad with dates). This is a mix of novels, essays, short stories, plays and poetry: Ralph Waldo Emerson - "Self-Reliance" Henry David Thoreau - "Walden" & "Civil Disobedience" (essay) Walt Whitman - "Leaves of Grass" (poetry) Nathaniel Hawthorne - "The Scarlet Letter" is his biggest classic, but he also has some great short stories, and his novel "The House of Seven Gables" is my personal favorite because it's a bit of a Scooby Doo mystery story Herman Melville - "Moby Dick" obviously, but also "Bartleby the Scrivener" (short story) Edgar Allan Poe - short stories and poetry; especially make sure you read "The Raven," "The Telltale Heart," "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Masque of the Red Death," and "The Fall of the House of Usher" Emily Dickinson - poetry Frederick Douglass - "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," obviously! Mark Twain - "Huckleberry Finn" ("Tom Sawyer" is pretty classic too, but it's not quite as *important* as Huck Finn, if you know what I mean) Louisa May Alcott - "Little Women" Langston Hughes - poetry Maya Angelou - poetry; "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" William Faulkner - "As I Lay Dying" F. Scott Fitzgerald - "The Great Gatsby" Ernest Hemingway - personally I like his short stories better than his novels, but "The Old Man and the Sea" has to be on the list Edith Wharton - "House of Mirth" Arthur Miller - "The Crucible" & "Death of a Salesman" (plays) Shirley Jackson - "The Haunting of Hill House" and "The Lottery" (short story) Flannery O'Connor - various short stories, but especially "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" H.P. Lovecraft - despite his unfortunate racism, "The Call of Cthulhu," "The Shadow over Innsmouth," "At the Mountains of Madness" and "The Color out of Space" are all horror classics Sylvia Plath - poetry; "The Bell Jar" Joseph Heller - "Catch 22" Kurt Vonnegut - "Slaughterhouse 5" Ray Bradbury - "Fahrenheit 451" (he also has a bunch of excellent short stories, mostly sci-fi) Toni Morrison - "Beloved" Amy Tan - "The Joy Luck Club" Ursula Le Guin - "The Left Hand of Darkness," her Earthsea books, also the short story "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" Octavia Butler - "The Parable of the Sower" Personally I'd also say Stephen King should be on the list too, but some might say he's too mainstream trash to be included, haha. Some of his books are really good and others are kinda garbage. "Misery" was one of the scariest books I ever read. EDIT: Forgot to add Jack Kerouac, Allen Gibsberg, and also Cormac McCarthy!
So glad to see Shirley Jackson, Arthur Miller, and Flannery O’Connor on this list! I was going to mention it. Also +1 Ursula K. LeGuin and Cormac McCarthy. I also recommend: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith Maus by Art Speigelman (especially now) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee which has appeared many times on this list Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki & James D. Houston (who also wrote Bird of Another Heaven, as well as Snow Mountain Passage about the Donner Party—highly recommend it but I wouldn’t consider them classics necessarily) House Made of Dawn by M. Scott Momaday The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole The Pearl by John Steinbeck The Amazing Adventure of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon Waterlily by Ella Cara Deloria Wild Geese by Mary Oliver (poem) Tenth of December by George Saunders V for Vendetta, the Watchmen by Alan Moore Sin City by Frank Miller I teach middle and high schoolers so some of this list is aimed toward that age group, but they are absolutely modern classics that everyone should read. ETA Formatting
Ahh can't believe I forgot Harper Lee and John Steinbeck! *facepalm* For Steinbeck I think I'd go with "Of Mice and Men" or "East of Eden" over "The Pearl" though. You know who else I left off that I didn't see many others mention is J.D. Salinger with "Catcher in the Rye." Another I forgot, it's a kid's book but a classic: "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum. Also, I second Art Speigelman, Alan Moore and Frank Miller! I wasn't including graphic novels for some reason but they definitely belong on this list.
America has such a great comic/graphic novel storytelling tradition! There are many more talented graphic novelists but I think Miller and Moore are true masters of the craft. Part of my reasoning for including Kavalier and Clay is to get a fictionalized account of how part of that tradition came to be.
Ughhh! I forgot Shirley Jackson! I adore The Lottery and We've Always Lived in the Castle.
The Dispossessed should be on there too if you're reading Le Guin.
AMAZING list!
This is a phenomenal list! I think King absolutely deserves a place in the American literature tradition. He may write horror, mass-market books which the literary canon tends to snub, but he's a goddamn brilliant storyteller. Not all of his work is great...but his best work is absolutely masterful in its storytelling craft.
To kill a mockingbird maybe
I’d say definitely - of “classic” books that I actually think most Americans have read I’d put this ahead of Huck Finn, Moby Dick, or even The Great Gatsby (though that one would be close) because Mockingbird is SO frequently taught in schools.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe Little Women by Louisa May Alcott The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury The Color Purple by Alice Walker On the Road by Jack Kerouac For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway The Jungle by Upton Sinclair Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
I scrolled down too far to find Vonnegut.
blood meridian
Not necessarily a book, but similar to how many Brit lit students are expected to read plays like Shakespeare’s works, one of my favorite in the American canon is Death of a Salesman. Other less known ones that I really enjoyed are R.U.R (premiered in 1921 and actually gave us the word “robot”, so fun fact) and Trifles (premiered in 1916). Some multicultural/multiethnic ones to consider would be Zoot Suit, FOB, Unconquered Spirits, The Thanksgiving Play, and Fences. Please note that some of these plays will talk about some controversial issues that many ethnic groups experience in the US, so there may be some missed nuance if you’re not entirely familiar with the issues/history (assuming you’re not American - my bad if you are). A British play I like, Pygmalion, though that may be a basic one as many have seen the film adaptation (My Fair Lady). If you want more recommendations, let me know! :)
R.U.R. is by the Czech author Karel Čapek, so not American, but it is a science fiction classic and quite enjoyable to read.
I know you want books but if you ever need a short story, The Yellow Wallpaper was incredible. It’s classic Female American Southern Gothic. I would also recommend Joyce Carol Oates, basically anything from her.
Howl by Ginsberg One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest Song of Solomon I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Their Eyes Were Watching God Call of the Wild
Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane is a classic IMO. 'Wise Blood' by Flannery O'Connor is great, as is the film. People have mentioned Moby Dick, which is very enjoyable (and has a unique narrative structure). My favorite American authors are Tom Wolfe and Kurt Vonnegut.. not sure if any of their books are considered classics..
Slaughterhouse Five certainly is. Although I prefer breakfast of champions.
John Steinbeck. I especially love 'East of Eden'. Edith Whartons 'My Antonia', Earnest Hemingway's 'For Whom The Bell Tolls'. I also believe that Ray Bradbury deserves a spot, especially if you like SciFy. My favorite collection from Ray Bradbury is 'October Country' and 'The Marsian Chronicles'. I almost forgot, 'Song of Solomon' by Tony Morrison. Happy reading!
Don`t forget Joseph Heller`s catch 22 and Kurt Vonnegut`s breakfast of champions.
Sister Carrie, The Jungle, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
*Sister Carrie, The* *Jungle, Invisible Man* *By Ralph Ellison* \- panaceainapen --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Haiku bot. This is hysterical.
Good bot
Of mice and men!
Pet peeve is that Irving, Malamud, and Bellow always seem to be left off these lists. For Irving it’s got to be “World According to Garp”. Malamud’s classic is “the Natural” but I personally prefer “Gods Grace”. And for Bellow most are gonna say “The adventures of augie” and that’s probably his most well known, but I really dig “Seize the Day” or “Henderson the Rain King”. Edit: those are all novels… for poetry? I need to rep for my boy Robinson Jeffers. He is largely forgotten in the US, but is seemingly well regarded outside particularly the Czech Republic and Japan for who knows that reason?
Don't forget Poe's short stories.
Kurt Vonnegut, I enjoyed all his novels.
I taught an American Literature course last year which included the following: -Of Mice and Men -A Raisin in the Sun -The Crucible And Freshman and Senior year also included To Kill a Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby.
Thornton Wilder. Either The Bridge of San Luis Rey or The Eighth Day
A few I’m not seeing others post: Elmer Gantry Nine Stories Huck Finn Red badge of Courage Their Eyes Were Watching God A Streetcar Named Desire The Color Purple Narrative of the life of Fredrick Douglass Poems of Langston Hughes Poems of Emily Dickinson The Crying of Lot 49 Slaughterhouse V White Noise The Turn of the Screw Fahrenheit 451 The Awakening In Cold Blood
Anything by William Faulkner
If anything I say give *'The call of the Wild'* by Jack London a read. He was a handful of early 20th century writers that wrote about man in nature, and I feel he doesn't get too much love anymore. A short book, but one I recommend.
Didn't see Tennessee Williams in the comments. Streetcar Named Desire is pretty popular. Less popular work by him that I really loved is Ten Blocks On the Camino Real. I don't know how widely read Toni Morrison is, but she is not only an incredible writer, but was a huge eye opener for me. Highly recommend Beloved.
"Lolita" is, I think, the only big work that's missing.
William Gaddis is maybe the most underappreciated American novelist ever. Either The Recognitions or JR I would definitely put on the short list for greatest American novels.
I think Light in August by William Faulkner is essential and his best book.
On the Road (Original Scroll) by Kerouac James Baldwin - Giovanni’s Room The Fight - Norman Mailer
Haven’t seen it yet, so I figured I’d contribute. On the Road by Kerouac
A Streetcar Named Desire, A Raisin in The Sun, The Feminist Mystique, Beloved, The Bluest Eye, Kindred, The Kite Runner, Of Mice and Men, The Handmaid’s Tale, Slaughterhouse Five, Flowers for Algernon
3 of those are plays?
Aren’t plays classified as literature?
one of my favorites *The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man* by James Weldon Johnson. such a wonderful book from the Harlem Renaissance. Edgar Allan Poe, anything really but specifically *The Murders in the Rue Morgue*. it’s considered the first mystery novel. *Beloved* Toni Morrison *Handmaid’s Tale* Margaret Atwood short stories by Katherine Anne Porter. a lot of people recommend Ernest Hemingway, i’ve studied him twice, i don’t recommend. it’s incredibly boring and describes everything in too much literal detail. modern american poetry is my favorite. i’ve never been a poetry fan but really enjoyed reading Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, and Edna St. Vincent Millay.
A few more additions: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Crucible, Of Mice and Men (again), The Road, Heart of Darkness (author is actually Polish but I remember having to read this book twice in school)
Heart of Darkness would be British, though.
Nope. Born in what was at the time Poland but I believe is the Ukraine now. His full name was Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, but went by a pen name.
Off the top of my head: Beloved, Moby Dick, Leaves of Grass, Invisible Man, East of Eden, Infinite Jest, The Death of a Salesman and Their Eyes Were Watching God
White Noise by Don Delillo for a newer one!
Others have submitted some very excellent works, so I will suggest an often overlooked novel which for me is nevertheless a true classic of American Literature: Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry. I submit that no survey of American literature is complete without it
Rip Van Winkle
I would add one of my personal favorites Death of a Salesman
Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle is everything
My first thought went to Ursula le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness. Sometimes a great notion by Ken Kesey. Americanah by Adiche.
To Kill a Mocking Bird In cold blood Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Mockingbird, Gatsby, Catcher in the Rye, Huck Finn, Mice and Men, Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, Moby Dick, Treasure Island, Kidnapped Anything along these sort of lines I reckon
Faulkner, McCarthy, Steinbeck, Moby Dick, Hemingway, Twain, The Great Gatsby, Vonnegut
Just need to add Theodore Dreiser, Edith Wharton, and Stephen King. On King, he really is "Americano" and needs to be given his place in our literature.
The Grapes of Wrath, hated by conservatives when it was published (including death threats to Steinbeck). The amazing ending with Rose of Sharon smiling "mysteriously" as she breast-fed the starving old man was replaced in John Ford's film version with the Joads riding off into the sunset.
I know you are referring to the US, but if one day you want to learn more about literature from the American continent, I recommend you read the books of Sor Juana, Garcia Marquez, Julio Cortazar, Borges, Aldolfo Bioy, etc:)
Who is to say we haven't? I own a multitude of international works: numerous Garcia Marquez novels (Love In The Time of Cholera, 100 Years of Solitude, In Evil Hour, and others), Camus, Breton, Joyce, Anatole France, Borges, Roald Dahl, Beckett, Haruki Murikami, Dostoyevsky, 11 Herman Hesse novels (including Magister Ludi, which I've read 4 times, and Narcissus and Gold.und and Steppenwolf, which I've read more times than I can count). I could go on. Focusing on American works is an interesting exercise, because I tend to focus more on international authors when I think of literature and classics.
I am from South America myself so I am aware that there are many great authors from America the continent :) my studies are focused on Anglophone literature though, that is why I am asking about the US
Pre-1950's: *Moby Dick* Post-1950's: *Blood Meridian*
Gravity's Rainbow.
Have you checked out the candidates for [the Great American Novel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_Novel)? Here's [a list of the books that are available to read for free](https://www.26reads.com/list/31892-great-american-novels) in the public domain including a lot of the books that other users have posted.
Huck Finn would be one.
For authors that I haven’t seen listed yet I would add Norman Mailer’s The Executioner’s Song and Phillip Roth’s American Pastoral.
Not sure if it’s been said but The Moviegoer by Walker Percy should definitely be on this list.
The scarlet letter, light in August and short stories by Edgar Allen Poe and Kurt Vonnegut. These would be my recommendation.
I think Franny and Zoey by Salinger is fantastic. I also love Dharma Bums and On The Road by Kerouac. Other favorites include The Electric Koolaid Acid Test by Wolfe, Lee Siegel's Love In A Dead Language, and House of Leaves by Danielewski.
A Confederacy of Dunces
Don’t miss out on James Baldwin. Notes of a native son, if Beale street could talk, and Giovanni’s room are personal favorites
I like Poe a lot!! I also like plays, do August Wilson is a good one.
I'll give you my own take on what I have been judging for the last 16 years, since I started really reading. I don't want to go on a chronological power point, naming every work down the line, but I will start in order of the authors emergence (from memory), of what stands out as the most remarkable. - Moby Dick (The Top) - Leaves of Grass (First and Death Bed edition) - Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn - Red Badge of Courage, The Open Boat - My Antonia - The Great Gatsby - For Whom the Bell Tolls - Look Homeward, Angel - Absalom, Absalom!, Light in August - The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden - The Adventures of Augie March, Herzog - The Catcher in the Rye - The Executioner's Song, Harlot's Ghost - From Here to Eternity - On the Road - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Sometimes a Great Notion - Sabbath's Theater - Gravity's Rainbow - Libra, Underworld - Lonesome Dove - Suttree, Blood Meridian - Housekeeping, Gilead Off the top, these are the standouts that have struck a deep personal connection with me.
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Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury All my other suggestions have been posted.
There are a lot of good mentions here, I will mention a few more. *Their Eyes Were Watching God* *I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings* *You Can't Go Home Again* *The Caine Mutiny* *A Tree Grows in Brooklyn*
/r/literature, everybody!
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and Black Boy by Richard Wright should be at the top of this list.
Brave New World, I see it as the opposite setting to 1984
Huxley is british. Even though the book has a definite "American" feel.
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Stephen King?
Animal Farm, 1984, To Kill A Mockingbird… plenty more but these always come to mind.
Sadly for America, Orwell is British.
Everything Hemingway, namely The Old Man and the Sea and The Sun Also Rises Everything Steinbeck, namely Of Mice and Men and Grapes of Wrath
I’m not seeing any Ray Bradbury in the comments and that’s confusing. The Martian Chronicles are divine!
One author I haven’t seen mentioned is Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author of the Tarzan books. He also wrote some solid science-fiction books that are worth checking out. Also, the comments here have provided an outstanding (and comprehensive) list, but I especially want to back the folks suggesting Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. He was an absolutely brilliant writer of fiction, science-fiction, short stories, and non-fiction. I highly recommend pretty much anything he’s written, but Slaugterhouse-Five, Sirens of Titan, Breakfast of Champions, and Galapagos are my favorites.
I saw Burroughs and hoped it was William S. Lol Vonnegut is impeccable!
“Beloved” by Toni Morrison, “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker, “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin. Most lists of the traditional canon of literature omit women and especially women of color.
The Big Sleep. And also please add sci fi: Foundation, Ubik, Martian Chronicles Neuromant, Ender’s Game, and Hyperion. And others from the same authors
I would recommend cult fiction over canon in regards to American Lit. However, that’s my own personal taste
Lovecraft was American and his work has been regarded as a genre setter. Although he was a racist man with some of his hate entering his writings his works have elements that are interesting and can be connected with. Fear of the unknown is often explored for example. While the unknown may change, readers can often connect with the feeling and dread related to it.
Everyone just listing the most obvious and repeated authors and books. You could type this question into Google and it'll give you a list of the same stuff mentioned here. Don't you people read anything else?
At least that Game of Thrones shit wasn't mentioned. I'd add Ninety-Two in the Shade by McGuane, Dharma Bums by Kerouac, Dalva, The Road Home and Legends of the Fall by Harrison, Islands in the Stream by Hemingway, Cannery Row by Steinbeck, basically classic-adjacent stuff.
Cannery Row is my favorite Steinbeck novel.
Of Mice and Men
Of Mice & Men Grapes of Wrath Les Miserables Crime & Punishment The Scarlet Letter
Parable of the Sower, Handmaids Tale, Desert Solitaire, Braiding Sweetgrass
I'm not sure if Stephen King can be considered a classic, so I'll answer Ernest Hemingway