American Literature

[hobbsmann]

I'm finding it hard to believe that a teacher would let somebody read tropic of cancer even though I think it is an amazing book.

I'm pretty impartial to Kerouac and would recommend Dharma Bums or on the road. Both are fairly short, fast paced reads that really give an interesting perspective on post WWII America (more so on the road).

[sfer]

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I'm halfway through On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Very good so far - kinda like the movie Easy Rider (drugs and traveling.)

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To be honest, when I was 17, I thought that was one of the greatest things ever written, but have since come to regard it as fairly overwrought, overwritten, and overblown (much as Kerouac himself ended up).


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Ever hear the famous Dorothy Parker line about On the Road?--"It's not writing; it's typing."

[RunDownHouse]

I'll second Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy O'Toole. Ditto just about anything by Morrison.

From your original list, I'd pick Cormac McCarthy. All three of those novels in the loosely-connected "Border Trilogy" (is that what they're called?) are really, really good, and I think you'll get more enjoyment out of reading those than you would out of a lot of these other books. With the possible exception of Catch-22.

I actually had a passage from The Crossing as one of the essays for my AP Lit test way back when.

[Blarg]

I picked up Tropic of Cancer on my own. I liked it enough to read just about everything else Miller ever wrote. I really loved "The Air Conditioned Nightmare," Tropic of Capricorn, and Black Spring, a book of his short stories.

[pshreck]

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I'm in shock that this thread has gone so long and no one has mentioned Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. It is a little long though.

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The fact that she was born in Russia leaves her in limbo as to what type of literature she is. I'm not sure if she is ever taught in American lit classes.

[sam h]

A Fan's Notes - by Frederick Exley


If you liked One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, this book is somewhat similar but really much better. I have never met anybody who didn't like this book.

[pshreck]

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I have never met anybody who didn't like this book.

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You have to have met somebody who has read it for that to happen.

[Grivan]

Well considering it was written in english after she had immigrated. I would be more likely to say it is an American novel then to say it is a Russian novel.

[pshreck]

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Well considering it was written in english after she had immigrated. I would be more likely to say it is an American novel then to say it is a Russian novel.

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I agree 100%, and so does anyone, but you'd be surprised how weird scholars are about defining these things. T.S. Eliot is not taught as much as he should be in standard english classes because no one is sure as whether or not to put him in American Lit or Brit Lit.

[hobbsmann]

if you're really enjoying reading a book written by Ken Keasy you should read a book about him.

The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe is pure insanity with Keasy the leader of this band of hippies expanding minds via acid/speed/grass/peyote etc. and freaking out the establishment. The book is nonfiction and set from 1964-1969 and is a pretty raw and amazing glimpse into the culture of that time.