Friday, May 29, 2009

Five Best Works of Literature from the 20th Century.(excluding Theatre, Thats a different list )

Those of you that know me understand that I have a bit of a bias towards certain authors, but I guess that is just the way it is in regards to literature, we tend to like what we like and hate what we hate and often there isn't a lot of reason for which category it goes in other than we like it, or don't.  Regardless, here is my top five.  

5.   Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee and Walker Evans-  This work probably hits home more if, like me, your parents are older.  My Mom was born as sharecropper in circumstances very similar to the farmers that are featured by James Agee, and it gives some unique and touching insights to what life was like back then.  It is also unusual because Agee wrote the words, but Walker Evans was actually given co-authorship for his photographic work.  The images tell the story just as much as the words do, and I might be a bit biased because I am a photographer and Evans is my favorite.  Either way it is recommended reading.

4. Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson-A wonderful collection of intertwining short stories that encapsulate the good and the bad (mostly the bad) of living amongst colorful characters in small town Ohio.  Anderson in this work is an exquisite writer, and just reading the words he puts on the page is a treat.  

3.  Catch-22 by Joseph Heller- Dark, scary, hilarious, touching, and socially provocative.  Those are all ways to describe Joseph Heller's one literary success.  Quirky characters immediately pull you in and let you know that war is in fact hell.

2. Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut-  With him the question is which one do you pick?  Most people tend to pick Cat's Cradle or Slaughterhouse-5.  Myself, I tend to enjoy Hocus Pocus, Bluebeard, and Breakfast of Champions more.  I decided on Bluebeard, because it is the closest he comes to creating a real character, not a caricature of one.  I immediately became attached to the elderly painter with a very real idea of his own mortality and the fascination with panty lines.

1. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway-  I have been told that I am obsessed with this book, and that could very likely be true.  I read it for the first time when I was very impressionable, and I still remember the first time I realized that Jack Barnes was, how to put it, damaged.  Its a wonderful written novel that really shows us the meaning of torment and escapism.  

3 comments:

  1. Breakfast of Champions changed my life, but my Vonnegut pick would still have to be God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater.

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  2. No Joyce? Sad day.

    I would go Hocus Pocus on Vonnegut and For Whom the Bell Tolls on Hemingway. Obviously I wouldn't go Closing Time on Heller because it's terrible.

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  3. Hah, well Joyce is a bit of an acquired taste I think. Undeniably talented though.

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