Lists

Discovered in my random wanderings these lists from Random House of the "best" books of the past century. You can check out the lists, and I'll supply a few comments here.

Non-Fiction: It's nice to see works by Frye, Bloom and Kermode here, but the list is dominated by the typical texts, not in the canonical sense, but in the ideological sense. Ayn Rand's and L. Ron Hubbards' location at the top of the list is to me indicative of the power of the 'converted' to vote for their texts in a kind of religious nomination. And-- what the fuck?!?!?! Howard Stern's Private Parts is on the list?!?!?! Proof positive democracy is not all it's hyped up to be.

Fiction: This is the list you may have seen in the press just after the millenium turned, and it makes considerably more sense than the Non-Fiction list. Notice, though, the disproportionately high location of Huxley's Brave New World, Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, Dreiser's An American Tragedy and Sister Carrie, McCullers' The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, Orwell's Animal Farm, and Kipling's Kim. Note, too, the relatively low placements for Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Faulkner's Light In August.

Frequently Challenged Books of 99-00: The list here is awkward because it's mostly contemporary, and doesn't include many key texts, like Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and The Merchant of Venice, constant victims of the moral authorities. Notice the primary concerns, though, with sex and sexuality? But of course, Dr J says, in his worst mock-francais.

The Guardian's Top 100 'Best Books' Of All-Time: Don Quixote ranks first, apparently, but no other rankings are provided. Where's T.S. Eliot's Collected Poems? Where's A Portrait of the Artist...? There's just too much to do with this list, but it's worth a study.

For other lists, check here. Looking at these lists makes me remember exactly how futile it is to make such silly things.