I would not have included works that were first published in other languages and then translated into English. That would knock a fair number out of this list. They weasel-worded it as "published...
I would not have included works that were first published in other languages and then translated into English. That would knock a fair number out of this list.
They weasel-worded it as "published in English" rather than best English language novels as is stated in the title here at Tildes, so they gave themselves wiggle room.
But what do I know? I've only read a handful of these books. Eleven for sure. Don't remember if I ever finished 1984.
I keep waffling on my opinion of this approach. On one hand, I completely agree that it feels a little underhanded, though on the other hand, I’m glad that translated works that hold up (decently)...
I keep waffling on my opinion of this approach. On one hand, I completely agree that it feels a little underhanded, though on the other hand, I’m glad that translated works that hold up (decently) are acknowledged too. I’m monolingual and am incredibly grateful that excellent translations of works like Don Quixote and One Hundred Years of Solitude exist, and that lists like this shine a spotlight on them instead of leaving them off because they weren’t originally written in English, otherwise a dunce like me might never have given them the time of day.
1984 is one of those books where if you do actually finish it you will know that its not about what most people think its about. The real ending is SO dark. The absolute hopelessness of that...
1984 is one of those books where if you do actually finish it you will know that its not about what most people think its about.
The real ending is SO dark. The absolute hopelessness of that reality is something thats definitely stuck in my head. I didn’t really get it until I read it again as an adult.
Great Gatsby, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, all those hit different as an adult.
I believe one of the most important lessons of 1984 is just how dark it is. People gravitate towards happy endings but the reality 1984 warns against is not some magic victory.
I believe one of the most important lessons of 1984 is just how dark it is. People gravitate towards happy endings but the reality 1984 warns against is not some magic victory.
It is one thing I hate about movies. They almost universally wipe away the real ending, replaced with a feelgood. Which is kinda dystopian in its own right when you think about it.
It is one thing I hate about movies. They almost universally wipe away the real ending, replaced with a feelgood.
Which is kinda dystopian in its own right when you think about it.
I'm torn. On the one hand, that's a pretty logical argument. Hard to disagree with. On the other, translations have had massive effects on not just the English language, but also English writing...
I'm torn. On the one hand, that's a pretty logical argument. Hard to disagree with. On the other, translations have had massive effects on not just the English language, but also English writing and English fiction. Even if we put aside Dostoevsky, The Iliad is a translation, you know?
This week, we reveal our list of the 100 greatest novels published in English, as voted for by authors and critics around the world. We polled 172 authors, critics and academics for their top 10 novels of all time, published in English, and asked them to rank their choices in order of preference. We scored the titles according to how often they were voted for, and then added a weighting based on individual rankings to produce the overall list of 100 greatest books.
Watership Down isn't there? Lord of the Rings? Wizard of Oz? Salem's Lot? Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? I call shenanigans. Watership Down is an utter masterpiece of nested storytelling. The...
Watership Down isn't there?
Lord of the Rings?
Wizard of Oz?
Salem's Lot?
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?
I call shenanigans.
Watership Down is an utter masterpiece of nested storytelling. The Peter Capaldi audiobook is utterly astonishing, the way he is able to have a distinct voice for each storytelling rabbit, with each rabbit voice doing their own voices in the stories they are telling.
Lord of the Rings is almost unquestioningly the most influental novel in the last 80 years.
Wizard of Oz was declared "America's greatest and best-loved homegrown fairytale" by the Library of Congress.
Stephen King trumped Bram Stoker with Salem's Lot the way Jonny Cash trumped NIN with Hurt.
Hitchhiker's Guide is just a good time and anybody who says otherwise probably deserves what's coming for them.
I've read 16 books that appear on here, Ulysses is my favorite of those so checks out that it's so high up. None of them feel out of place except maybe Rebecca? But even that one I like a lot. The...
I've read 16 books that appear on here, Ulysses is my favorite of those so checks out that it's so high up. None of them feel out of place except maybe Rebecca? But even that one I like a lot. The most represented author I've read is Virginia Woolf, I've read 4 of her books that are on the list, and they certainly all belong there!
I never know how to feel about these lists. You know I think the methodology here is decent but it also leads to an obvious skew away from genre or really anything niche(I mean, the Left Hand of...
I never know how to feel about these lists. You know I think the methodology here is decent but it also leads to an obvious skew away from genre or really anything niche(I mean, the Left Hand of Darkness was seminal, but is that really the ONLY sci-fi representation here? Unless I missed something), towards the classics, and sometimes towards very high placements of books that I would personally characterize as more "impressive" than "good" (Ulysses,The Man Without Qualities). Speaking of Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften, I always find it slightly stupid to put works in translation on lists like these. It says English in the title, right? Why is the Quixote there? Why Pedro Páramo and One Hundred Years of Solitude and Invisible Cities -- brilliant books no doubt, that are among my personal favorites, but are also works in translation where, somewhat notoriously, their ambiguity and poeticisms often fail to come across in English?
I guess lists like these are best as jumping off points for discussion, but I tend to prefer more personal lists anyway because by attempting to be definitive these come out kinda anonymous.
Anyway I do agree with a lot of these picks in full: Catch 22, Wuthering Heights, the Nabokov stuff (if I'm right in remembering that Nabokov wrote in English and then his family translated it into Russian). All holds up marvelously. I do wonder what more recent novels will be making lists like this in fifty years when they're "eligible." Chain Gang All Stars, maybe. House of Leaves? I mostly read dyke-y genre stuff these days so I'm not hugely tapped in.
I would not have included works that were first published in other languages and then translated into English. That would knock a fair number out of this list.
They weasel-worded it as "published in English" rather than best English language novels as is stated in the title here at Tildes, so they gave themselves wiggle room.
But what do I know? I've only read a handful of these books. Eleven for sure. Don't remember if I ever finished 1984.
I keep waffling on my opinion of this approach. On one hand, I completely agree that it feels a little underhanded, though on the other hand, I’m glad that translated works that hold up (decently) are acknowledged too. I’m monolingual and am incredibly grateful that excellent translations of works like Don Quixote and One Hundred Years of Solitude exist, and that lists like this shine a spotlight on them instead of leaving them off because they weren’t originally written in English, otherwise a dunce like me might never have given them the time of day.
1984 is one of those books where if you do actually finish it you will know that its not about what most people think its about.
The real ending is SO dark. The absolute hopelessness of that reality is something thats definitely stuck in my head. I didn’t really get it until I read it again as an adult.
Great Gatsby, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, all those hit different as an adult.
I believe one of the most important lessons of 1984 is just how dark it is. People gravitate towards happy endings but the reality 1984 warns against is not some magic victory.
It is one thing I hate about movies. They almost universally wipe away the real ending, replaced with a feelgood.
Which is kinda dystopian in its own right when you think about it.
I'm torn. On the one hand, that's a pretty logical argument. Hard to disagree with. On the other, translations have had massive effects on not just the English language, but also English writing and English fiction. Even if we put aside Dostoevsky, The Iliad is a translation, you know?
Why not just call it a list of the 100 best novels then? Why include English as a qualifier at all?
From their how we made it + have your say page:
Man, what a snooze-fest. Not a single Berenstain Bears book. I read The Great Gatsby, and there wasn't anything great about it. Unbelievable.
Watership Down isn't there?
Lord of the Rings?
Wizard of Oz?
Salem's Lot?
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?
I call shenanigans.
Watership Down is an utter masterpiece of nested storytelling. The Peter Capaldi audiobook is utterly astonishing, the way he is able to have a distinct voice for each storytelling rabbit, with each rabbit voice doing their own voices in the stories they are telling.
Lord of the Rings is almost unquestioningly the most influental novel in the last 80 years.
Wizard of Oz was declared "America's greatest and best-loved homegrown fairytale" by the Library of Congress.
Stephen King trumped Bram Stoker with Salem's Lot the way Jonny Cash trumped NIN with Hurt.
Hitchhiker's Guide is just a good time and anybody who says otherwise probably deserves what's coming for them.
I've read 16 books that appear on here, Ulysses is my favorite of those so checks out that it's so high up. None of them feel out of place except maybe Rebecca? But even that one I like a lot. The most represented author I've read is Virginia Woolf, I've read 4 of her books that are on the list, and they certainly all belong there!
I never know how to feel about these lists. You know I think the methodology here is decent but it also leads to an obvious skew away from genre or really anything niche(I mean, the Left Hand of Darkness was seminal, but is that really the ONLY sci-fi representation here? Unless I missed something), towards the classics, and sometimes towards very high placements of books that I would personally characterize as more "impressive" than "good" (Ulysses, The Man Without Qualities). Speaking of Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften, I always find it slightly stupid to put works in translation on lists like these. It says English in the title, right? Why is the Quixote there? Why Pedro Páramo and One Hundred Years of Solitude and Invisible Cities -- brilliant books no doubt, that are among my personal favorites, but are also works in translation where, somewhat notoriously, their ambiguity and poeticisms often fail to come across in English?
I guess lists like these are best as jumping off points for discussion, but I tend to prefer more personal lists anyway because by attempting to be definitive these come out kinda anonymous.
Anyway I do agree with a lot of these picks in full: Catch 22, Wuthering Heights, the Nabokov stuff (if I'm right in remembering that Nabokov wrote in English and then his family translated it into Russian). All holds up marvelously. I do wonder what more recent novels will be making lists like this in fifty years when they're "eligible." Chain Gang All Stars, maybe. House of Leaves? I mostly read dyke-y genre stuff these days so I'm not hugely tapped in.