Posted by Steven
on 10/2/2009, 22:30:55, in reply to "Re: Guardian List: "1000 Novels Everyone Must Read""
76.187.98.74
I find The Western Canon as frustrating as it is useful for the very reasons you give. Perhaps they derive from his criterion of "canonical" rather than "great."
Some of the entries are vague. For example: Chekhov's "Tales"--which tales? all 800+?. On the other hand, I like that he recommends specific editions and translators for many of the older books.
And, of course, there is the omission of non-Western works (essentially Japan and China), but this can be made up by borrowing from Fadiman's list.
I gave up the idea of trying to read the entire Canon because of the large proportion of modern poetry on the list--too hard to find and understand.
Poetry is problem for book lists. In many cases (Wordsworth, for example) "complete poems" is too much, hard to find, and probably not all worth reading anyway. But "selected poems" can mean anything from a handful of poems to 800 pages. If you name a specific edition in your list, the list becomes obsolete as soon as that edition goes out of print. This also applies to short stories, with Chekhov being a good example.
--Previous Message--
: Well, joffre, it's an excellent start. I don't disagree
: with anything on your list, although I would make some
: additions.
:
: I wonder, though, if it wouldn't be interesting to
: start with Harold Bloom's Western Canon and supplement
: it (or veto it). His list is exhaustive, but it can
: be quite perverse, especially with twentieth century
: writers. For example, Robert Coover - Spanking the
: Maid , but not T he Public Burning ; E.L. Doctorow -
: World's Fair , but not Ragtime ; Toni Morrison -
: Song of Solomon , but not Beloved ; William Golding -
: Pincher Martin , but not Lord of the Flies . Then
: there are the excellent novels written since 1994 -
: Underworld and American Pastoral come to mind.
:
: We could call it Beyond the Canon or something like
: that.
:
:
: (And oh yeah, no Rabbit .)
:
:
:
: -
:
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