American classics of the 20th century. Most Screened American Writers

The United States of America can rightly be proud of the literary heritage left by the best American writers. beautiful works continue to be created even now, however, for the most part they are fiction and mass literature, which does not carry any food for thought.

The best recognized and unrecognized American writers

Critics still debate whether fiction is beneficial to humans. Someone says that it develops imagination and a sense of grammar, and also broadens one's horizons, and individual works can even change the worldview. Some people think it's only good for reading. scientific literature containing practical or factual information that can be used in Everyday life and develop not spiritually or morally, but materially and functionally. Therefore, American writers write in a huge number of the most different directions- America's literary "market" is as large as its cinema and pop scene are diverse.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft: master of the real nightmare

Since the American people are greedy for everything bright and unusual, the literary world of Howard Phillips Lovecraft turned out to be just to their taste. It was Lovecraft who gave the world stories about the mythical deity Cthulhu, who fell asleep at the bottom of the ocean millions of years ago and will wake up only when the time of the apocalypse comes. Lovecraft has a huge fan base around the world, and bands, songs, albums, books, and movies are named after him. Incredible world, which the Master of Horrors created in his works, never ceases to frighten even the most inveterate and experienced horror fans. Stephen King himself was inspired by Lovecraft's talent. Lovecraft created a whole pantheon of gods and frightened the world with terrible prophecies. When reading his works, the reader feels a completely inexplicable, incomprehensible and very powerful fear, although the author almost never directly describes what should be feared. The writer sets the reader's imagination to work in such a way that he himself imagines the most scary pictures, and from this the blood literally freezes in the veins. Despite the highest writing skills And recognizable style, many American writers were unrecognized during their lifetime, and Howard Lovecraft was one of them.

Master of monstrous descriptions - Stephen King

Inspired by the worlds created by Lovecraft, Stephen King has created a lot of great works, many of which have been filmed. Such American writers as Douglas Clegg, Jeffrey Deaver and many others bowed before his skill. Stephen King is still creating, although he has repeatedly admitted that because of his works, unpleasant supernatural things often happened to him. One of his most famous books with a short but loud title "It" excited millions. Critics complain that it is almost impossible to convey all the horror of his works in film adaptations, but brave directors are trying to do this to this day. King's books such as " Dark tower”, “Necessary things”, “Carrie”, “Dreamcatcher”. Stephen King knows how not only to create an inflating, tense atmosphere, but also offers the reader a lot of completely disgusting and detailed descriptions dismembered bodies and other not too pleasant things.

Classic Fiction by Harry Harrison

American science fiction writer Harry Harrison is still very popular in quite wide circles. His style light, and the language is uncomplicated and understandable, and these qualities of his works make them suitable for readers of almost any age. Garrison's plots are extremely interesting, and the characters are original and interesting, so everyone can find a book to their liking. One of the most famous books Garrison, "Indomitable Planet" boasts a twisted plot, distinctive characters, good humor and even beautiful romantic line. This American science fiction writer made people think about the dangers of too much technological progress, and whether we really need to travel to outer space, if we can not yet control ourselves and our own planet. Harrison showed how you can create science fiction that will be understandable to both children and adults.

Max Barry and his books for the progressive consumer

Many modern American writers place their main bet on the consumer nature of man. On the shelves of bookstores today you can find a lot of fiction which tells about the adventures of fashionable and stylish heroes in the field of marketing, advertising and other big business. However, even among such books you can find real pearls. Max Barry's work sets the bar so high for contemporary authors that only truly original writers can jump over it. His novel The Syrup concentrates on the history young man named Skat, who dreams of doing brilliant career in advertising. The ironic style, the apt use of strong language, and the stunning psychological pictures of the characters made the book a bestseller. "Syrup" got its own film adaptation, which did not become as popular as the book, but practically did not yield to it in quality, since Max Barry himself helped the screenwriters work on the film.

Robert Heinlein: a fierce critic of public relations

Until now, there are disputes about which writers can be considered modern. Critics believe that they can also be attributed to their category, and after all, modern American writers should write in a language that would be understandable to today's person and would be interesting to him. Heinlein coped with this task one hundred percent. His satirical-philosophical novel "Passing the Valley of the Shadow of Death" shows all the problems of our society, using a very original plot device. Main character- an elderly man whose brain was transplanted into the body of his young and very beautiful secretary. A lot of time in the novel is devoted to themes free love, gay and lawlessness in the name of money. We can say that the book "Passing the Valley of the Shadow of Death" is a very harsh, but at the same time extremely talented satire, exposing modern American society.

and food for hungry young minds

American classical writers concentrated most of all on philosophical, significant issues and directly on the design of their works, and further demand was of little interest to them. IN contemporary literature, released after 2000, it is difficult to find something truly deep and original, since all the topics have already been skillfully revealed by the classics. This is seen in the books in the Hunger Games series, pen-owned young writer Susan Collins. Many thoughtful readers doubt that these books deserve any attention, as they are nothing more than a parody of real literature. First of all, in the Hunger Games series, designed for young readers, the theme is love triangle, set off by the pre-war state of the country and the general atmosphere of the most severe totalitarianism. Screen adaptations of Suzanne Collins' novels hit the box office, and the actors who played the leading characters in them became famous all over the world. Skeptics about this book say that it is better for young people to read at least this than not to read at all.

Frank Norris and his for the common people

Some famous American writers are practically unknown to any reader far from the classical literary world. This can be said, for example, about the work of Frank Norris, who did not stop from creating the amazing work "Octopus". The realities of this work are far from the interests of a Russian person, but Norris' unique writing style invariably attracts lovers of good literature. When we think of American farmers, we always imagine smiling, happy, and tanned people with expressions of gratitude and humility on their faces. Frank Norris showed real life these people without embellishing it. In the novel "The Octopus" there is no hint of the spirit of American chauvinism. American loved to talk about life ordinary people and Norris was no exception. It looks like the question social injustice and insufficient pay for hard work will worry people of all nationalities in any historical time.

Francis Fitzgerald and his reprimand to unlucky Americans

The great American writer Francis has found a "second popularity" after the release of the recent film adaptation of his excellent novel "The Great Gatsby". The film made the youth read the classics of American literature, and the performer leading role Leonardo DiCaprio was predicted to win an Oscar, but as always, he didn't get it. The Great Gatsby is a very small novel that vividly illustrates the perverted American morality, masterfully showing the cheap human inside. The novel teaches that friends cannot be bought, just as love cannot be bought. Main character novel, narrator Nick Carraway describes the whole situation from his point of view, which gives the whole plot a spice and a little ambiguity. All characters are very original and perfectly illustrate not only the American society of that time, but also our today's realities, as people will never stop hunting for material wealth, despising spiritual depth.

Both poet and prose writer

The poets and writers of America have always been remarkable for their amazing versatility. If today authors can create only prose or only poetry, then in the past such preference was considered almost bad taste. For example, the aforementioned Howard Phyllit Lovecraft, in addition to amazing creepy stories, also wrote poetry. It is especially interesting that his poems were much brighter and more positive than prose, although they provide no less food for thought. Lovecraft's inspirational genius, Edgar Allan Poe, also created great poems. Unlike Lovecraft, Poe did this much more often and much better, so some of his poems are heard today. The poems of Edgar Allan Poe contained not only amazing metaphors and mystical allegories, but also had philosophical overtones. Who knows, perhaps the modern master of the horror genre, Stephen King, will also sooner or later hit poetry, tired of complex sentences.

Theodore Dreiser and "An American Tragedy"

The life of ordinary people and the rich was described by many classical authors: Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Bernard Shaw, O'Henry. The American writer Theodore Dreiser also went down this path, placing more emphasis on the psychologism of the characters than directly on the description. domestic problems. His novel " American tragedy” superbly presented the world with a vivid example that collapses due to the wrong moral choice and the vanity of the protagonist. The reader, oddly enough, does not at all feel sympathy for this character, because only a real villain, who causes nothing but contempt and hatred, can violate all societies so indifferently. In this guy, Theodore Dreiser embodied those people who want to break out of the shackles of a society that is contrary to them at any cost. However, is this high society so good that you can kill an innocent person for it?

September 24 is the 120th birthday of one of the most famous American writers, Francis Scott Fitzgerald. It is also one of the most difficult to understand, although at first the eye and mind of the reader is blinded by the brilliance of the parties described, deep moral and social problems lie behind it. The editors of YUGA.ru, together with the Chitay-Gorod bookstore chain, have selected six more books by this date iconic works that will help you look at America and Americans with different eyes.

The Great Gatsby is a great novel, but neither in life nor in the soul of its protagonist there is no greatness, there are only sparkling illusions "which give the world such brilliance that, having experienced this magic, a person becomes indifferent to the concept of true and false" . The lucrative millionaire Jay Gatsby had already lost them and with them lost the opportunity to taste life and love again - and yet all their treasures were at his feet.

The reader is presented with the America of Prohibition, gangsters, playboys and brilliant parties to the music of Duke Ellington. That Jazz Age magnificent century when it still seemed that all desires were fulfilled, and you could get a star from the sky without even standing on tiptoe.

The portrait of the protagonist of the trilogy of desire, Frank Cowperwood, is largely based on a real person, millionaire Charles Yerkes, and in the past few years, viewers around the world have been following life central figure series " House of cards", Frank Underwood. It can be assumed that even the name "great and terrible" the president borrowed from the character created by Dreiser. His whole life revolves around success, he is a prudent financier and builds his empire, using everything and everyone for his own purposes. Exactly, " The Financier" is the name of the first novel in the trilogy, where we see how the personality of a prudent businessman was formed, who is ready, without hesitation, to step over the law and moral principles if they become an obstacle in his path.

The most acutely social and accusatory book ever written in the USA and about the USA, The Grapes of Wrath affects the reader, perhaps, no less than Solzhenitsyn's texts. Cult Romance was first published in 1939, won the Pulitzer Prize, and the author himself was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962. Portrait of a nation in one of the most difficult periods in history, the Great Depression, is drawn through the story of a farming family, which, after being ruined, is forced to take off and look for food in an exhausting journey across the country on the same "Route 66". Like thousands, hundreds of thousands of other people, they go to sunny California for a illusory hope, but even greater difficulties, hunger and death await them.

Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which paper ignites. Bradbury's philosophical dystopia paints a picture post-industrial society: this is the world of the future, in which all written publications are ruthlessly destroyed by a special squad of firefighters, the possession of books is prosecuted by law, interactive television successfully serves to fool everyone, punitive psychiatry decisively deals with rare dissidents, and an electric dog goes on the hunt for incorrigible dissidents. Today, in Russia in 2016, the relevance of the novel published in 1953 (already 63 years ago!) is greater than ever - homegrown censors are raising their heads in different parts of the country, who seek to restrict freedom of speech just by destroying and banning books.

The life of Jack London was as romantic - at least if you look at his biography through some lyrical prism - and filled with events, like his novels, and "Martin Eden" is considered the pinnacle of his work. This is a work about a man who achieved recognition of his talent by society, but was deeply disappointed in that respectable bourgeois stratum that finally accepted him. According to the writer himself, this is "the tragedy of a loner who is trying to inspire the truth in the world." A truly timeless work and a hero whose feelings are understandable to the reader on any continent and in any era.

One of the most difficult to understand, but at the same time incredibly interesting and multifaceted authors, Kurt Vonnegut wrote, mixing genres and always leaving the reader with uncertainty - what exactly did he just read, was it not an appeal to himself through the pages of the book and what is being said here. In "Breakfast for Champions" the author surprisingly subtly and accurately destroys stereotypes of perception, showing us a person and life on Earth with a detached look, looking as if from another planet, where they do not know what an apple or a weapon is. The protagonist, writer Kilgore Trout, is both the author's alter ego and his interlocutor, and is about to win a literary prize. At the same time, someone who reads his novel (this character, Duane Hoover, played by Bruce Willis in the 1999 film adaptation), slowly goes crazy, taking everything written in it at face value and losing touch with reality - as he begins to doubt it contains the reader.

In John Updike's first novel in the Rabbit series, Harry Engstrom - and that's exactly his nickname - is a young man whose rose-colored glasses of youth have already been shattered by the inexorable reality. From the star of the high school basketball team, he became a husband and father, forced to work in a supermarket to provide for his family. He is not able to come to terms with this and embarks on a "run". Updike and Kerouac seem to be talking about the same people, but in a different tone - so those who have read the latter's "On the Road" will be interested in moving from beatnik literature to complex psychological prose, and those who have not read it will undoubtedly have a lot of fun by switching their attention and diving even deeper into the same topic.

American writers are the authors who created American literature, the youngest literature in the world. Appearing in late XVIII century, it began to develop intensively in the XIX and XX centuries. This literature is fanned by the romanticism of creating a new world, a new person and new relationships. The list of the most famous American writers and their works is far from complete, but we are working... If you have read any work and liked it very much, then let us know and we will publish it on the site.

Their best books, stories and stories can be read in Russian and English. We also suggest looking best film adaptations works. For English learners, there are short adapted stories, subtitled films and cartoons in English, as well as free lessons in English online.

American Writers and Their Works (classics)

Washington Irving (1783-1859)

Full of mysticism and adventurism, stories about American pioneers from the founder of American literature, author of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, in English and Russian.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

Read best stories representative of American romanticism and the ancestor modern detective— Edgar Poe, author Raven Poems(). Most famous stories writer - Black Cat, Gold Beetle, Murder in the Rue Morgue.

O. Henry / O. Henry (1862-1910)

American Don Quixote, a sad storyteller of the 20th century, a master of an unexpected denouement and certainly a good end - O. Henry. His most famous stories are Gifts of the Magi, The Last Leaf.

Jack London (1876-1916)

The most famous American writer is a man past way from the “abyss upward” and self-made, the author of the cycle "Northern stories" and novel "Martin Eden". The most famous stories Love for life, Make a fire, A piece of meat.

Ray Bradbury (1920-2011)

The great science fiction writer who captivated his readers in bright world fantasy, author famous works Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451, Dandelion Wine.

That's not all American writers who glorified their country. Not yet published on our website materials on Fenimore Cooper, Mark Twain, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Theodore Dreiser, Ernest Hemingway and some others. The gap must be filled.

In general, I haven't read much in the last 5 years. You could even say I don't read at all. TO electronic options books, and even more so reading from a smartphone, I never got used to it, and there is no time for paper ones, and when there is a little time there is no book at hand. This is an Internet infection, because of it everything.

As a result of all this, he was generally lost in his favorite topic - science fiction and fantasy. But in principle, it might even be read something else.

Without being attached to the genre, I met a small list of now popular American writers. Who read what?

1. "Sinlessness" by Jonathan Franzen

"Sinlessness" has become real sensation last year: it is called the most scandalous and most Russian novel by Franzen. Reflections on acute social problems, the totalitarian nature of the Internet, feminism and politics are intertwined with a deep, very personal story of one family.

The life of a young girl named Pip is a complete mess: she does not know her father, she cannot pay off her student debt, she does not know how to build relationships, she goes to boring work. But her life changes dramatically when she becomes an assistant to the hacker Andreas Wulff, who most of all loves to publicly reveal other people's secrets.

2. The Secret History, Donna Tartt

Richard Paypen remembers student years at a closed college in Vermont: he and several of his comrades attended the closed course of an eccentric teacher of ancient culture. One trick of an elite circle of students ended in a murder that only at first glance went unpunished.

After the incident, other secrets of the heroes are revealed, which lead to new tragedies in their lives.

3. "American Psycho", Bret Easton Ellis

Most famous novel Ellis is already considered modern classics. The protagonist is Patrick Bateman, a handsome, wealthy and apparently intelligent young man from Wall Street. But behind the good looks and expensive costumes lies greed, hatred and rage. At night, he tortures and kills people in the most sophisticated ways, without a system and without a plan.

4. "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer

A touching story from the face of a 9-year-old boy Oscar. His father died in one of the twin towers on September 11, 2001. Looking around his father's pantry, Oscar finds a vase, and in it is a small envelope with the inscription "Black" and a key inside. Encouraged and filled with curiosity, Oscar is ready to go around all the Blacks in New York to find the answer to the riddle. This is a story about overcoming a bereavement, New York after a disaster, and human kindness.

5. "It's Good to Be Quiet" by Stephen Chbosky

"The Catcher in the Rye" modern teenagers- this is how critics dubbed the book by Stephen Chbosky, which sold a million copies and was filmed by the author himself.

Charlie - a typical quiet, silent observer of what is happening, goes to high school. After a recent nervous breakdown, he withdrew into himself. To overcome inner feelings, he begins to write letters. letters to a friend, to an unknown person to the reader of this book. On the advice of his new comrade Pete, he tries to become "not a sponge, but a filter" - to live full life rather than watching her from the sidelines.

6. The Clock, Michael Cunningham

History of one day life of three women from different eras from the Pulitzer Prize winner. The fate of the British writer Virginia Woolf, the American housewife Laura from Los Angeles and the editor of the publishing house Clarissa Vaughan, at first glance, are connected only by a book - the novel Mrs. Dalloway. But by the end it becomes clear that the lives and problems of the heroines, despite all the external differences, are the same.

7 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn

Nick and Amazing Amy perfect couple. But on the day of the fifth anniversary, Amy disappears from the house - there are all traces of the kidnapping. The whole city goes in search of the missing person and sympathizes with Nick, until Amy's diary falls into the hands of the police, because of which her husband becomes the main suspect in the murder. Main intrigue novel - who in this situation turned out to be a real victim.

Roman Flynn attracts with a non-standard view of modern marriage: partners marry beautiful projections of each other and then are very surprised when a living person whom they do not know at all is discovered behind the invented image.

8. "Slaughterhouse Five, or the Children's Crusade" by Kurt Vonnegut

The hard military experience of the writer is reflected in this novel. Memories of the bombing in Dresden are shown through the eyes of the ridiculous timid soldier Billy Pilgrim - one of those foolish children who were thrown into a terrible war. But Vonnegut would not be himself if he had not introduced an element of fantasy into the novel: either due to post-traumatic stress disorder, or due to the intervention of aliens, Pilgrim learned to travel in time.

Despite the fantastic nature of what is happening, the message of the novel is quite real and clear: Vonnegut ridicules stereotypes about “real men” and demonstrates the senselessness of wars.

9. Beloved, Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison received Nobel Prize in literature for the fact that in her novels full of dreams and poetry she revived important aspect American reality. And the novel "Beloved" was named by Time magazine one of the 100 best books in English.

The main character is the slave Sethy, who, together with her children, escaped from cruel masters and stayed free for only 28 days. When the chase overtakes Sethe, she kills her daughter with her own hands - so that she does not know slavery and does not experience the same as her mother. The memory of the past and this terrible choice haunts Seti all her life.

10. A Song of Ice and Fire, George Martin

fantasy epic about magical world The Seven Kingdoms, where the struggle for the Iron Throne does not stop, while a terrible winter is approaching the entire continent. On this moment five novels out of a planned seven were published. The remaining two parts are waiting for both fans of the writer's work and fans of the Game of Thrones, a series based on the saga that breaks all popularity records.

What have you been reading that has been interesting lately?

sources

Modern American literature is a whole army interesting authors and a sea of ​​varied books. It's very easy to get lost here. Together with the MTS Mobile Library, we have compiled a guide to the most important US writers right now. Of course, not everyone is on the list.

JONATHAN FRANZEN

Why is he on our list. Franzen is almost called the most important writer modern America. It brings the reader back to the form of a great novel, ignoring that it is not very fashionable now. To understand Franzen a little, it is worth knowing that he chooses Faulkner over Hemingway, admires Tolstoy, and proudly considers Nabokov an American writer. For the novel "Corrections" Jonathan Franzen received the most prestigious National Book Award.

Of course, this "Sinlessness" . The odyssey of a young girl named Purity who didn't know her father and is trying to find him. In her search, she is helped and hindered by Internet libertarian Andreas Wolf, freelance journalist Tom Aberant, and Anabelle's paranoid mother.

Cost in MTS mobile library :

Other important books by Franzen

"Amendments"- America, 1990s. The Lambert family, whose head suffers from Parkinson's disease, gets together at Christmas to unwittingly arrange the usual family showdown.

Cost in MTS mobile library : 4 rubles if read in 20 days.

"Freedom"- America, already 2000s, behind 9/11. Walter and Patti Berglund try to save their marriage and reflect on their search for freedom.

Cost in MTS mobile library :

DON DELILLO

Why is he on our list. The famous critic Harold Bloom (the same one who ridiculed Stephen King for his National Book Award) called Don DeLillo one of the most important American writers of his time, along with Pynchon, Roth and McCarthy.

In his youth, he read a lot of Faulkner and Hemingway (usually they are opposed to each other), began to write in order not to work, and eventually became a famous postmodernist writer. The resounding success of Don DeLillo brought the novel "White Noise" - National Book Award in 1985.

His Great American Novel

Novels equally claim this role. "White noise" And "Scales". Let's dwell on the latter, because this book is about "seven seconds that broke the back of America" ​​- the assassination of Kennedy. The book tells the stories of Lee Harvey Oswald, the CIA agents who planned the fake assassination attempt on JFK (conspiracy!) and archivist Nicholas Branch studying the assassination.

Cost in MTS mobile library : 3 rubles if read in 15 days.

Other important books by DeLillo

"White noise"- a satirical story about a professor of Hitler studies who is terribly afraid of death, as well as exposure in his "scientific" discipline. DeLillo also targets TV, religion, supermarkets, etc.

Cost in MTS mobile library : 3 rubles if read in 15 days.

"Falling"- one of the first attempts in American literature to comprehend the tragedy of 9/11. The hero sees the towers fall and is forced to live on with this disastrous experience.

CORMAC MCCARTHY

Why is he on our list. Thanks to McCarthy, Javier Bardem played one of his best roles- psychopath Anton Chigurh in the Coen brothers' thriller No Country for Old Men. McCarthy, of course, wrote a novel of the same name. Seriously speaking, Cormac McCarthy is one of the most venerable American writers, who is often called Faulkner's heir.

His books are included in various top 100 best novels in English. For The Road, McCarthy won the Pulitzer Prize. The novel "Horses, Horses" was awarded the National Book Award and the National Book Critics' Award.

His Great American Novel

"Blood Meridian" - the brutal story of a teenager who joined a gang of thugs on the US-Mexico border. War against everyone: Indians, Mexicans, Rangers, each other. A harsh novel about the nature of violence.

Other Important McCarthy Books

"Horses, horses" - like a novel about a young cowboy who rushed to Mexico from West Texas after the death of his grandfather. In fact, a book about growing up and testing the spirit.

"Road"- hopeless post-apocalyptic. Father and son try to cross former America destroyed by the cataclysm to reach the sea.

Cost in MTS mobile library :

MICHAEL CHABON

Why is he on our list. Chabon is equally good at psychological novels, detective stories, science fiction - he turns all this into a unique intellectual prose. The novels "Pittsburgh Mysteries" (first) and "Geeks" (second) were filmed, and it is a pity that this has not yet happened with The Adventures of Cavalier and Clay.

Michael Chabon dreamed up a Jewish colony in Alaska and won two major science fiction awards, the Hugo and Nebula, for his novel The Jewish Policemen's Union. And the novel about Cavalier and Clay earned him the well-deserved Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner American Literary Award. Yes, even Chabon had a hand in the film "Spider-Man 2", becoming a screenwriter.

His Great American Novel

"The Incredible Adventures of Cavalier and Clay" - a novel about american dream that the heroes are trying to achieve. Josef Kavaler flees the Nazis in a coffin with a golem, his cousin Sammy draws comics in New York. Two geeks come up with a cartoon character, The Escapist, who fights Hitler, and begin their takeover of America's comics industry.

Cost in MTS mobile library : 3 rubles if read in 15 days.

Other important books by Chabon

Union of Jewish Policemen - inseparable friends, detectives Meir Landsman and Berko Shemets, are investigating the murder of a famous chess player. It takes place in Jewish Alaska.

Cost in MTS mobile library : 2 rubles if read in 10 days.

"Moonlight" - memoirs of grandfather Chabon, turned into literature. The protagonist participates in World War II, hunts for German rocket men and Wernher von Braun, collaborates with NASA, falls in love with a Jewish girl... Chabon's very personal book.

Cost in MTS mobile library : 3 rubles if read in 15 days.

STEVEN KING

Why is he on our list. Stephen King takes a close look at nature in his books. ordinary person, not always attractive. And if you want to consider him a horror writer, you run the risk of following a not-so-smart stereotype.

Listing all the awards and achievements of King is simply pointless, there are too many of them. Let's just say that in 2003 he received a medal for outstanding contribution to American literature (US National Book Award).

His Great American Novel

"Hearts in Atlantis" - a poignant book, deliberately collected from stories-fragments. The girl whom the hero of the first story saves from hooligans grows into a rebellious student. She appears in the second story of the novel, the most "American", where King described the college campus of the 1970s, the life of young Americans and the anti-Vietnam protests. Looping the story, King again brings the heroes together in the final...

Other important books by King

"It"- an amazing story about childhood friendship, which is destined to undergo severe trials. After all, a terrifying monster wants everyone to go flying.

"Confrontation" - when the world falls from the flu epidemic, Randall Flagg, the "black man", the dark messiah, will enter the scene. But many Americans will not want to submit to him.

DONNA TARTT

Why is she on our list. Donna Tartt writes her novels every ten years. She has published three books in total: secret history"(1992), "Little Friend" (2002) and "Goldfinch" (2013). But, despite their small number, Donna Tartt has already taken important place in American literature. Her novels are compared with the books of Shakespeare, Dickens and Umberto Eco (quite strange at first glance). Tartt immerses the reader, as she herself says, in gleeful, greedy reading (happy, greedy reading).

The last novel brought the writer the Pulitzer Prize and the Carnegie Medal for the best art book in USA.

This "Goldfinch"- an adventurous romance and a romance of upbringing in one. Young Theo Decker loses his mother in an explosion at a New York museum. From this begins his wanderings through families, cities and time. All of it Theo's life accompanies the painting The Goldfinch, which he inexplicably stole from the museum after the explosion.

Cost in MTS mobile library : 5 rubles if read in 25 days.

Two other important books by Tartt

"Secret History" - the adult hero remembers a strange college murder that destroyed a group of friends.

Cost in MTS mobile library : 4 rubles if read in 20 days.

"Little friend" - an example of American "Southern Gothic" in a modern version. Young Harriet tries to solve the mystery tragic death younger brother which happened when she was three years old.

Cost in MTS mobile library : 4 rubles if read in 20 days.

THOMAS PYNCHON

Why is he on our list. Because he wrote Gravity's Rainbow. In principle, this was enough to stake out a place in eternity. Pynchon was rumored to have attended Nabokov's seminar at Cornell University. And also for a long time they thought about him that he was Salinger, so well Pynchon kept his incognito.

Pynchon's favorite topics are entropy, paranoia, conspiracy theories, opposition to the System. Pynchon heavily influenced postmodernism and the cyberpunk novel. By the way, they decided not to award him the Pulitzer Prize in 1974 - his "Rainbow" was considered unreadable and obscene. Pynchon did not accept the National Book Award for the novel himself, sending a comedian to the presentation.

His Great American Novel

Against all odds, this is not a "Rainbow" (for that it is too complex and cosmopolitan), but "Birth defect" . America in the early 1970s, detective Doc Sportello with a hippie background is looking for an ex-girlfriend and her wealthy suitor. The classic confrontation between the outsider and the System.

Cost in MTS mobile library : 3 rubles if read in 15 days.

Other important books by Pynchon

"Gravity's Rainbow" - complex plot is built around the search for the mysterious "black block" for the V-2 rocket with the number 00000. "Rainbow" is considered the most difficult postmodern novel 20th century.

"Screaming Lot 49" - confrontation between two postal companies Thurn und Taxis and Trystero. The latter, fictional, is considered the prototype of the Internet and e-mail.

Cost in MTS mobile library : 3 rubles if read in 15 days.

TOM WOLF

Why is he on our list. He's great at wearing a white suit! Actually Tom Wolfe - bright Star American documentaries, prose and journalism. Moreover, he practically invented " new journalism”, perceiving the newspaper genre as a real art.

He wrote about cool non-fiction, about the American auto industry during its heyday, the brilliant Ken Kesey and the hippie commune " Merry pranksters”, a space battle between Americans and Russians. Author of four novels, the last written in 2012. Recipient of the National Book Foundation Medal for Contribution to US Literature.

His Great American Novel

"Bonfires of Ambition" - a bright canvas depicting New York in the 1980s, and at the same time a novel that touches on the social problem of racism and social stratification. A stockbroker and his mistress accidentally run over a teenager in the "black" ghetto, and he dies. The perpetrators hide the accident, but the terrible secret cannot be kept secret...

Cost in MTS mobile library : 3 rubles if read in 15 days.

Other Important Wolfe Books

"Voice of Blood" - the book describes modern Miami, where immigrants from all over the world have mixed. In the center of the plot is a policeman who is forced to balance between the law and the interests of his diaspora.

"Electrocooling Acid Test" - a story about the life of Ken Kesey from 1958 to 1966 and his influence on the American subculture, in particular the hippies. A masterpiece of new journalism.

Cost in MTS mobile library : 2 rubles if read in 10 days.

JENNIFER EGAN

Why is she on our list. Jennifer Egan is considered one of the most interesting contemporary writers America, although she wrote not so much (note, more Donna Tartt). Egan began writing short stories for The New Yorker and New York Times magazine. The debut novel "The Invisible Circus" was filmed with Cameron Diaz in the title role.

In 2010, Jennifer Egan won the Pulitzer Prize for Time Has the Last Laugh.

Her Great American Novel

"Time Laughs Last" - the youth of the heroes coincided with the birth of punk rock, and today they are already over forty. The successful producer and failed punk rocker Benny Salazar continues his run in the circle of rock music, breaking away, touring, etc. But time does not lag behind the heroes by a single step.

Other Important Books by Egan

"Citadel"- the story of cousins ​​who met after twenty years. One of them has changed a lot and now invited the second to restore the neglected mansion he bought. old lock promises brothers many surprises.

"Invisible Circus" (not yet translated) - the young heroine goes to Portugal in the footsteps of her older hippie sister, who unexpectedly committed suicide for everyone.

WILLIAM GIBSON

Why is he on our list. Of course, he's here primarily because of Neuromancer and his sleek, unique style. The mentioned novel became the “New Testament of cyberpunk” (according to Timothy Leary), in fact, gave rise to this genre, unleashed literary war with American science fiction humanists. "Neuromant" collected all significant awards in science fiction: Hugo, Nebula, Philip Dick Award, Australian Ditmar and Japanese Seiun Award.

To Gibson's credit, he shook the dust of cyberpunk off his feet as the genre began to die, and moved on to futuristic prose that explored new media, technologies, religions, and so on. He famously said: "The future is already here, it's just unevenly distributed."

His Great Post-American Novel

"Peripherals" , the last novel of the writer. Gibson's America no longer exists in the form united state. The heroine Flynn and her brother Burton, a veteran of the local war, are forced to earn extra money as a semi-legal freelance in network games. One such game turns out to be not a game at all, but another reality, the inhabitants of which manipulate people in our world.

Cost in MTS mobile library : 3 rubles if read in 15 days.

Other Important Gibson Books

The whole trilogy "Cyberspace" , including "Neuromancer", "Count Zero", "Mona Lisa overdrive": data matrix hacks, illegal technologies, cyberwar with corporations and yakuza, bioimplants, etc.

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