Modern Library's 100 Best Novels is a list of the best English-language novels of the 20th century as selected by the Modern Library. In the spring of 1998 the Modern Library polled its editorial board to find the best 100 novels of the 20th century. The board consisted of Daniel J. Boorstin, A. S. Byatt, Christopher Cerf, Shelby Foote, Vartan Gregorian, Edmund Morris, John Richardson, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., William Styron and Gore Vidal.
Ulysses by James Joyce topped the list, followed by The Great Gatsby and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The most recent novel in the list is Ironweed (1983) by William Kennedy, and the oldest are Sister Carrie (1900) by Theodore Dreiser and Lord Jim (1900) by Joseph Conrad.
The list purports to contain only English-language novels (in fact, Darkness at Noon was originally written in German. However, since the original German text was lost, and German versions, published under the title Sonnenfinsternis (literally "solar eclipse") are back translations from English, it is reasonable to consider the English version the canonical text.)
A separate list of the 100 best non-fiction books of the 20th century was created the same year. A list of reader choices was published separately by Modern Library in 1999.
Criticism of the list includes that it did not include enough novels by women, and not enough novels from outside North America and Europe.[1] In addition, some contend it was a "sales gimmick", since most of the titles in the list are also sold by Modern Library.[2]
Contents |
The List
Editors' list
Readers' list
The following year the Modern Library compiled a list based on online voting. Seven of the top ten novels are works by Ayn Rand (the creator of Objectivism) and L. Ron Hubbard (the founder of Scientology).
See also
Notes
- ^ "The Top 100? 100 best novels list draws heavy dose of criticism", via CNN. By Jamie Allen, May 6, 1999
- ^ "Sound and Fury Over Top Novel List N.Y. publisher's selections signify little, critics say", SFGate, Steve Rubenstein, Tuesday, July 21, 1998
External links
- The Modern Library list
- New York Times Book Reviews of the 100 novels
- "The Top 100? 100 best novels list draws heavy dose of criticism", via CNN. By Jamie Allen, May 6, 1999
- "Sound and Fury Over Top Novel List N.Y. publisher's selections signify little, critics say", SFGate, Steve Rubenstein, Tuesday, July 21, 1998
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