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Saturday, November 13, 2010

A Canon For Generation X

Reacting against the idea that there is no more literary canon of must-read books, one writer offers his own list of the ten most significant books of the last twenty-five years--or, as he puts it, a canon for Generation X. His list starts with Cormac McCarthy's The Road and ends with Dave Eggers's Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. It's all fiction, too--unless you count James Frey's Million Little Pieces as non-fiction.

Which raises two questions. (1) If you're a voracious reader of fiction, what do you think of this list? Any egregious omissions or outrageous inclusions? (2) If like me you are more interested in non-fiction, what titles would you nominate for the non-fiction canon of the past twenty-five years? My list might start with Taylor Branch's Parting the Waters, which was published in 1988, 22 years ago. What about yours?

7 comments:

  1. At 10 books there will always seem to be omissions. I would be happy to chuck (no pun intended)"Fight Club" for "The Known World," and I alway hope the world will finally take notice of Colson Whitehead, whose "John Henry Days" pretty much drop kicks Palahniuk any day. I think, as well, that "Never Let Me Go" is on the fast track to cannonville and would happily eject any of the authors on this list to see Ishiguro on it (but, then, I am a bit biassed when it comes to my beloved Ishiguro). Oh, and Rowling trumps Card any day, if you ask me.

    As to non-fiction . . . I am not a fan, but Pollan's "Omnivore's Dilemma" has certainly been hugely influential.

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  2. Good point about Pollan. His work would certainly belong on a list of "most influential" non-fiction from the period, probably along with Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation" and Malcolm Gladwell's "Tipping Point." Not sure whether I would label any of these "canonical" in the sense of being "works whose excellence means they will stand the test of time." But we will see, won't we.

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  3. I agree about Ishiguro, but as much as I loved "Never Let Me Go," I was nearly overwhelmed by "The Unconsoled." I feel anxious just thinking of it. Of course these lists are ultimately personal. Mark Helprin’s “A Soldier of the Great War,” has become part of me, and I think is a contender. His “Winter’s Tale,” is just as wonderful, in a very different way, but that one misses the 25-year cutoff by two years.

    In non-fiction, I second Karl’s nomination of the Taylor Branch and add Robert Hughes’ “The Fatal Shore,” for its gorgeous writing, its journalistic approach to the history and for making a subject I approached with nearly no interest riveting.

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  4. A canon for Generation X? Then save me from that generation. That is some quirky, screwy list. And 8 of the 10 titles were published in 1996 or later. So 1985-1996 were pretty much a bust.
    THE FIGHT CLUB? Give me a break!
    For starters, what happened to Philip Roth, Toni Morrison, Ian McEwen, and John Updike? My number-one pick for the last 25 years--and maybe even longer--would be Philip Roth's AMERICAN PASTORAL.

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  5. My cousin B. emailed me to say, "It sounds as though George W. Bush's memoir should be added to the fiction list." Cousin B. is from Texas, by the way.

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