10 Great Works of American Literature

10 Great Works of American Literature

In this selection, I will give 10 books with a brief description, which, in my opinion, are key in American literature.

1. "Martin Eden" by Jack London

The story of how the main character, being a simple sailor, tries to become a successful writer. Reading this book, you can trace all the stages of the hero's development on the way from poverty to fame. Despite the circumstances and against all odds, Martin Eden challenges this world. By the way, it was not without love either.

2. "An American tragedy" by Theodore Dreiser

In pursuit of the American dream. An 18-year-old boy is eager for a beautiful life, which captivates him with his head. Here, as in the previous book, the hero is eager to enter high society, starting from the very bottom. An undoubted classic of American literature of the XX century.

3. "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee

A view of racism from the perspective of a little girl. A sharply social novel built around a high-profile trial involving the rape of a white girl by a black man. It is on behalf of the heroine that we can see all the injustice that reigns in the world of adults. A novel who is not afraid to ask questions and look for answers.

4. "The Catcher in the Rye" by Jerome D. Salinger

A novel that many now criticize, saying that it is "too childish" and not at all understandable. But it was this story about a boy in whom the spirit of rebellion is alive, showing all the vices of that society, that became a cult for the inhabitants of America in the middle of the XX century.

5. "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury

One of the most famous dystopias, immersing you in the near future of America, where it is customary not to read books, but to burn them. In the course of the novel, the hero becomes disillusioned with the ideals of the society of which he is a part, becomes an outcast and joins a small underground group of marginals, whose supporters memorize the texts of books in order to save them for posterity. The title of the book is explained in the epigraph: "Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which paper ignites and burns."

6. "Cat's Cradle" by Kurt Vonnegut

A book that brought the author world fame. And Vonnegut himself considers "Cat's Cradle" to be his most successful work. The main character is interested in a book about the end of the world. He travels all over the world, collecting information from scientists involved in the creation of the atomic bomb. But in the process of searching, he learns that there is a weapon much more terrifying - "Ice Nine".

7. "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby is a great novel, but there is no greatness in the life or soul of its protagonist, there are only glittering illusions "which make the world so colorful that, having experienced this magic, a person becomes indifferent to the concept of true and false." The millionaire Jay Gatsby has already lost them and with them has lost the opportunity to feel the taste of life and love again - and all their treasures were at his feet.

The reader sees the America of Prohibition, gangsters, life burners and brilliant parties to the music of Duke Ellington. The very "Jazz Age", a magnificent century when it still seemed that all wishes were fulfilled, and a star could be taken out of the sky without even standing on tiptoe.

8. "Sound and Joy" William Faulkner

A book about the life of an American family from a Nobel laureate. About their complex relationships, about family skeletons in the closet, about self-destruction, about love and hate, about the collapse of ideals and lost opportunities. The story of the collapse and death of one family. An emotional and difficult book, when reading which at different stages of the narrative, the reader experiences the whole range of emotions - from positive to negative.

9. "Moby Dick, or the White Whale" Herman Melville

The struggle of the ship's crew with a sperm whale, which no one managed to harpoon. A young American gets a sailor on a ship, unaware that the captain of this ship was deprived of his leg by a sperm whale and he seeks revenge. Who will be stronger: man or nature?

10. "A Farewell to Arms" by Ernest Hemingway

Well, where in this selection without Hemingway, one of the main representatives of the "lost generation" in literature. And this work just shows war, death, broken dreams and, of course, love. Will the heroes be able to carry their feelings through the horrors of the First World War?

Which books did I forget to mention? Or which ones should be excluded from this list? Write in the comments, it will be interesting to read your opinions.