The "All-Time" Novels.

Time has decided that there were no novels of any importance produced before the magazine first went to press in 1923. Actually, the editors have acknowledged Ulysses but state that they're going to name the 100 best novels since the weekly's birth.

This sort of list is generally formulated to elicit awe at the insight of those doing the anointing, but generally land closer to the territory of scorn. So it will be with me.

Here is the list.

First snark: Nothing by Tony Morrison is worthy of the list, let alone the tedious and basically unreadable Beloved. To Kill a Mockingbird certainly belongs, but what about In Cold Blood? Also, no matter how much I enjoy run-on footnotes, I can't see Infinite Jest on the list.

Plus, nothing from Umberto Eco? Nothing from Ford Maddox Ford? Nothing from Alice Walker? Camus? No, instead we get Judy Blume.

Okay, I'm nitpicking. I suppose that I could come up with my own list dating from my birthday. Anybody out there want to read that list? No? Of course not.

Comments

[Dave Schuler]

It's a peculiar list in many ways. Is Philip Roth really the greatest American novelist of the 20th century (a conclusion which could be drawn from this list)? George Orwell the greatest English writer? Nothing by Truman Capote appears on the list but his assistant, Harper Lee's work does. And every single one of the genre novel picks is, IMO, suspect. Not only is Ubik not one of the best 100 novels, it's not even Dick's best novel. And so on.

[Older Bro]

A few snarks of my own.

Scanning the list, they seemed to rely primarily on their own review, which may explain the time frame.

I'm not really that surprised that "In Cold Blood" was not selected since it is not technically a novel. While Capote wrote it as if is was a fiction, the events were still steeped in facts.

As a long time comic book collector, the inclusion of "Watchmen" and especially it's postion on the Reader's Choice list was interesting. It is excellent and not only played with the conventions of comic books and especially those of the superhero genre but often shattered them. Reportedly, originally it was to use the characters from the Charlton comics that DC had purchased, but when Joe Orlando found out what Moore was going to do to them he forced Moore to create new characters.

That said, I was a little surprised Art Speigelman's "Maus" was not the selected instead, if for no other reason than it is the only comic to every win a Pulitzer. I was surprised until I realized this is as much a work of New Journalism as "In Cold Blood."

Considering the massive sales of the series, I can just imagine some Harry Potter fans complaining that the series was omitted. I like the series, but I look on it more as pop culture entertainment and not so much as literature, such as is the case with the LOTR and the Narnia series. In fifty years it may achieve the same status as these two series but it may be a footnote, know primaily for it's sales and not it's literary status.