Greatest Work of American Literature (Novel)

[riskllama]

my vote goes for anything by bukowski or tom robbins, i suppose. also, how come on the road by kerouac isn't on here?
i also enjoyed hemingway and steinbeck immensely, too. was close, but...

[Symmetry]

my vote goes for anything by bukowski or tom robbins, i suppose. also, how come on the road by kerouac isn't on here?
i also enjoyed hemingway and steinbeck immensely, too. was close, but...

Check again.

Edit- Huh, just noticed the misspelling of Pynchon

[riskllama]

doh!

[saxitoxin]

A Farewell to Arms (Ernest Hemingway)
1
3%

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The (Mark Twain)
3
10%

Catcher in the Rye, The (J.D. Salinger)
2
7%

Call of the Wild, The (Jack London)
1
3%

Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
3
10%

Color Purple, The (Alice Walker)
0
No votes

Crying of Lot 49, The (Thomas Pychon)
0
No votes

Grapes of Wrath, The (John Steinbeck)
4
14%

Great Gatsby, The (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
2
7%

Kill a Mockingbird, To (Harper Lee)
3
10%

Moby-Dick (Hermann Melville)
0
No votes

On the Road (Jack Kerouac)
1
3%

Rabbit, Run (John Updike)
1
3%

Red Badge of Courage, The (Stephen Crane)
0
No votes

Road, The (Cormac McCarthy)
0
No votes

Scarlet Letter, The (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
0
No votes

Secret History, The (Donna Tartt)
0
No votes

Slaughterhouse-Five (Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.)
5
17%

Uncle Tom's Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe)
0
No votes

Other (write-in)
3
10%

[Symmetry]

A Farewell to Arms (Ernest Hemingway)
1
3%

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The (Mark Twain)
3
10%

Catcher in the Rye, The (J.D. Salinger)
2
7%

Call of the Wild, The (Jack London)
1
3%

Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
3
10%

Color Purple, The (Alice Walker)
0
No votes

Crying of Lot 49, The (Thomas Pychon)
0
No votes

Grapes of Wrath, The (John Steinbeck)
4
14%

Great Gatsby, The (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
2
7%

Kill a Mockingbird, To (Harper Lee)
3
10%

Moby-Dick (Hermann Melville)
0
No votes

On the Road (Jack Kerouac)
1
3%

Rabbit, Run (John Updike)
1
3%

Red Badge of Courage, The (Stephen Crane)
0
No votes

Road, The (Cormac McCarthy)
0
No votes

Scarlet Letter, The (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
0
No votes

Secret History, The (Donna Tartt)
0
No votes

Slaughterhouse-Five (Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.)
5
17%

Uncle Tom's Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe)
0
No votes

Other (write-in)
3
10%

Pynchon

[saxitoxin]

I've deleted everything that got zero and one votes. Vote again.

[Symmetry]

I've deleted everything that got zero and one votes. Vote again.

Other had 3 votes.

[saxitoxin]

I've deleted everything that got zero and one votes. Vote again.

Other had 3 votes.

Yeah but it was three votes split, by my count, four ways, or 0.75 votes per title.

[Symmetry]

I've deleted everything that got zero and one votes. Vote again.

Other had 3 votes.

Yeah but it was three votes split, by my count, four ways, or 0.75 votes per title.

Fair enough

[muy_thaiguy]

I guess I should have done a write in with the WOT series. Only Lord of the Rings has out sold them in the Fantasy department.

[saxitoxin]

I guess I should have done a write in with the WOT series.

Um, no. This is the "Greatest Works of American Literature," not "Books You Can Buy at the Airport to Kill Time on the Flight from Muskegon to Poughkeepsie."

Here's a chart you can use to see if a book is appropriate for this list:

Won the Nobel Prize / Pulitzer Prize / Booker Award? - Include
Won a "Best Video Game Adaptation Award" from G4? - Don't Include
Angsty Teenager is a Plot Device? - Include
Rescuing an Elf Princess from an Ogre is a Plot Device? - Don't Include
Forced to Read it in High School? - Include
Available for Purchase at a Ralph's Next to Copies of In Touch - Don't Include
Reviewed in the New Yorker? - Include
Reviewed in Dragon Magazine? - Don't Include
After Reading It You Want to Kill Yourself? - Include
After Reading It You Want to Go LARPing? - Don't Include

[riskllama]

what about TV Guide? surely that should receive some consideration...

[notyou2]

Just another poll by the American literary centrist elite snubbing the counter culture, Tom Wolfe and The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Tests.

I refuse to participate Saxi due to your obvious bias.

[saxitoxin]

I guess I should have done a write in with the WOT series.

Um, no. This is the "Greatest Works of American Literature," not "Books You Can Buy at the Airport to Kill Time on the Flight from Muskegon to Poughkeepsie."

Here's a chart you can use to see if a book is appropriate for this list:

Won the Nobel Prize / Pulitzer Prize / Booker Award? - Include
Won a "Best Video Game Adaptation Award" from G4? - Don't Include
Angsty Teenager is a Plot Device? - Include
Rescuing an Elf Princess from an Ogre is a Plot Device? - Don't Include
Forced to Read it in High School? - Include
Available for Purchase at a Ralph's Next to Copies of In Touch - Don't Include
Reviewed in the New Yorker? - Include
Reviewed in Dragon Magazine? - Don't Include
After Reading It You Want to Kill Yourself? - Include
After Reading It You Want to Go LARPing? - Don't Include

Sorry to pull a Symmetry here, but it had to be said.

[riskllama]

oohhh yeah, forgot all about ken kesey...
also, tom robbins is 10x the writer vonnegut was. vonnegut sux, saxi.

[Symmetry]

I guess I should have done a write in with the WOT series.

Um, no. This is the "Greatest Works of American Literature," not "Books You Can Buy at the Airport to Kill Time on the Flight from Muskegon to Poughkeepsie."

Here's a chart you can use to see if a book is appropriate for this list:

Won the Nobel Prize / Pulitzer Prize / Booker Award? - Include
Won a "Best Video Game Adaptation Award" from G4? - Don't Include
Angsty Teenager is a Plot Device? - Include
Rescuing an Elf Princess from an Ogre is a Plot Device? - Don't Include
Forced to Read it in High School? - Include
Available for Purchase at a Ralph's Next to Copies of In Touch - Don't Inclusive
Reviewed in the New Yorker? - Include
Reviewed in Dragon Magazine? - Don't Include
After Reading It You Want to Kill Yourself? - Include
After Reading It You Want to Go LARPing? - Don't Include

Sorry to pull a Symmetry here, but it had to be said.

Meh, it had to be said. Otherwise the greatest American novel would be something by John Grisham

[saxitoxin]

Meh, it had to be said. Otherwise the greatest American novel would be something by John Grisham

[Symmetry]

Meh, it had to be said. Otherwise the greatest American novel would be something by John Grisham

Couldn't remember the lawyer novel guy.

[muy_thaiguy]

I guess I should have done a write in with the WOT series.

Um, no. This is the "Greatest Works of American Literature," not "Books You Can Buy at the Airport to Kill Time on the Flight from Muskegon to Poughkeepsie."

Here's a chart you can use to see if a book is appropriate for this list:

Won the Nobel Prize / Pulitzer Prize / Booker Award? - Include
Won a "Best Video Game Adaptation Award" from G4? - Don't Include
Angsty Teenager is a Plot Device? - Include
Rescuing an Elf Princess from an Ogre is a Plot Device? - Don't Include
Forced to Read it in High School? - Include
Available for Purchase at a Ralph's Next to Copies of In Touch - Don't Include
Reviewed in the New Yorker? - Include
Reviewed in Dragon Magazine? - Don't Include
After Reading It You Want to Kill Yourself? - Include
After Reading It You Want to Go LARPing? - Don't Include

Are we talking about the same WOT here?

[rishaed]

I guess I should have done a write in with the WOT series.

Um, no. This is the "Greatest Works of American Literature," not "Books You Can Buy at the Airport to Kill Time on the Flight from Muskegon to Poughkeepsie."

Here's a chart you can use to see if a book is appropriate for this list:

Won the Nobel Prize / Pulitzer Prize / Booker Award? - Include
Won a "Best Video Game Adaptation Award" from G4? - Don't Include
Angsty Teenager is a Plot Device? - Include
Rescuing an Elf Princess from an Ogre is a Plot Device? - Don't Include
Forced to Read it in High School? - Include
Available for Purchase at a Ralph's Next to Copies of In Touch - Don't Include
Reviewed in the New Yorker? - Include
Reviewed in Dragon Magazine? - Don't Include
After Reading It You Want to Kill Yourself? - Include
After Reading It You Want to Go LARPing? - Don't Include

Are we talking about the same WOT here?

I think that the Third one with the Angsty Teenager qualifies WoT it has over 3 of them. Also it is massive with over 129 different characters and was also nominated for a Hugo Award. Also do you want to ignore Global figures that put the series at between 80-90 mil copies sold? (Thats more than the Entire booker Award list combined.) It could be you just have a personal dislike for the series though

[saxitoxin]

Also it is massive with over 129 different characters and was also nominated for a Hugo Award.

You can't compare a Hugo Award to a Nobel Prize or a Pulitzer Prize. It's like comparing the North Dakota AA football championship trophy to a Super Bowl ring.

Salinger wrote one short novel, decided that was good enough, and quit. Robert Jordan pooped-out a thousand-page coloring book about elves and magicians and penguins every few months that got slapped together on pulp paper and stuffed into grocery store book racks between stale Chips Ahoy cookies and the latest illustrated antics of Archie and Jughead. His books might be entertaining, I dunno, but they're not comparable to the masterworks of American literature.

Again, sorry to pull a Symmetry ... some things just can't be said gently.

[PLAYER57832]

Robert Jordan pooped-out a thousand-page coloring book about elves and magicians and penguins every few months that got slapped together on pulp paper and stuffed into grocery store book racks between stale Chips Ahoy cookies and the latest illustrated antics of Archie and Jughead.

he was one of many proteges of the Queen, but I don't consider him the greatest. I do, however, salute the Queen (may she rest in peace).

[notyou2]

Robert Jordan was an average author at best

[muy_thaiguy]

Also it is massive with over 129 different characters and was also nominated for a Hugo Award.

You can't compare a Hugo Award to a Nobel Prize or a Pulitzer Prize. It's like comparing the North Dakota AA football championship trophy to a Super Bowl ring.

Salinger wrote one short novel, decided that was good enough, and quit. Robert Jordan pooped-out a thousand-page coloring book about elves and magicians and penguins every few months that got slapped together on pulp paper and stuffed into grocery store book racks between stale Chips Ahoy cookies and the latest illustrated antics of Archie and Jughead. His books might be entertaining, I dunno, but they're not comparable to the masterworks of American literature.

Again, sorry to pull a Symmetry ... some things just can't be said gently.

Something tells me you've never bothered to look past the cover of one of the books.

[saxitoxin]

Also it is massive with over 129 different characters and was also nominated for a Hugo Award.

You can't compare a Hugo Award to a Nobel Prize or a Pulitzer Prize. It's like comparing the North Dakota AA football championship trophy to a Super Bowl ring.

Salinger wrote one short novel, decided that was good enough, and quit. Robert Jordan pooped-out a thousand-page coloring book about elves and magicians and penguins every few months that got slapped together on pulp paper and stuffed into grocery store book racks between stale Chips Ahoy cookies and the latest illustrated antics of Archie and Jughead. His books might be entertaining, I dunno, but they're not comparable to the masterworks of American literature.

Again, sorry to pull a Symmetry ... some things just can't be said gently.

Something tells me you've never bothered to look past the cover of one of the books.

True. I took up the challenge and just read three pages of Eye of the World in the Amazon preview. This is not world-class writing. It's probably a very entertaining tale of magic and dwarves but it's essentially a narrative of events occurring "This happened. Then this person said that. Then this person did this while saying that." This is not high-caliber literature.

It will never be on a school reading list, will never be the subject of dissertations, and will be entirely forgotten within a few decades by all except hard-core genre fans, just like all genre fiction; Conan the Barbarian, or whatever.

It's designed to be an entertaining distraction, not a deep commentary on the nature of existence or the human experience. It was picked-up by a publisher because it had the potential to sell paper in the largest volume possible, a piece of pulp people can grab at the supermarket and shove into their grocery bag next to the Cheez-Its and Windex, and to open opportunities for TV and video game adaptations. There will never be a video game adaptation of Catcher in the Rye or On Walden Pond.

You're trying to compare the latest 5 Seconds of Summer single to the 9th Symphony. I like 5 Seconds of Summer but I don't mention them in the same breath as Beethoven.