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| | | | List of best 20th-century novels in English stirs debate |
1 | | | A month after the American Film Institute unveiled its much-debated |
| | | selection of the 100 greatest American-made movies, the editorial board of |
| | | the Modern Library has selected the 100 best English-language novels |
| | | published this century. James Joyce’s Ulysses, a book many people were |
| 5 | | bewildered by in college, was the top vote-getter, followed by F. Scott |
| | | Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Ian Jackman, managing director of the |
| | | Modern Library, said the panel of 10 scholars and writers who chose the |
| | | novels has been debating its selections for more than a year, so they weren’t |
| | | inspired by the national attention the American Film Institute got. |
| 10 | | Nevertheless the list has stirred controversy because of the titles and authors |
| | | it excludes and because the selections were made almost entirely by men. |
2 | | | Although William Kennedy’s Ironweed from 1983 is included, many current, |
| | | highly regarded writers are left out, such as Don DeLillo and Thomas |
| | | Pynchon. Other prominent omissions include Irish Nobel Prize-winner |
| 15 | | Samuel Beckett and Raymond Chandler, even though fellow hard-boiled |
| | | writers Dashiell Hammett and James M. Cain appear. |
3 | | | But the fact that British novelist A.S. Byatt is the only woman on the panel |
| | | and only nine of the chosen books are by women has come in for the most |
| | | comment.Women writers not featured include Doris Lessing,Toni Morrison |
| 20 | | and Eudora Welty. |
4 | | | “I think it’s sort of an attempt to exert control on people’s reading and |
| | | thinking and appreciation of literature that really smacks of a sense of |
| | | desperation,” said Dr. Meta G. Carstarphen, poet and professor of journalism |
| | | at the University of North Texas. “I’m appalled that in the latter years of this |
| 25 | | century, when so many strides have been made by very strong women writers, |
| | | by multicultural writers, by international writers, when we really are seeing some |
| | | extraordinary writing, that the list doesn’t acknowledge these developments. |
5 | | | “I’m just stunned by what’s on the Top 10.There really are some parallels |
| | | with this very male protagonist who must make his way in the world - the |
| 30 | | male coming-of-age - but there are other ways of talking about the human |
| | | experience than through the eyes of a pubescent or young white male. One |
| | | also should be encouraged to read novels that look at the coming-of-age |
| | | experience in other contexts, such as in writings by Sandra Cisneros or Alice |
| | | Walker or Toni Morrison…” |
6 | 35 | | Scott Gonzalez, who teaches ninth- and 10th-graders at St. Mark’s School of |
| | | Texas, a private boy’s school in Dallas, agreed. “Oh, come on,” he said, laughing |
| | | about the list. “There’s not much broadness of opinion going on here.” |
7 | | | “The Modern Library board is an old institution, made up mostly of men, |
| | | and we’re addressing that now,” said Ann Godoff, president and editor in |
| 40 | | chief of publishers Random House, which includes the Modern Library as |
| | | one of its divisions and publishes 59 of the 100 novels on the list. |
8 | | | “To increase gender and ethnic diversity, the board will be doubled in size,” |
| | | Ms. Godoff said. “If the list speaks to anything, it speaks to the need for |
| | | more voices.” Random House hopes to achieve this in time for its next lists, |
| 45 | | the top 100 non-fiction books and the top 100 books, fiction and non-fiction, |
| | | to be released in 1999 and 2000, respectively. |