AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY - Theodore Dreiser

This is my favorite novel. I can't think of another author who has taken apart the "american dream" as well as Dreiser did in this book. The story of Clyde Griffiths as he goes from poor, small town nobody to working in his rich uncle's factory desperately hoping to become a somebody is a long and sad journey we know is doomed from the start. Griffith destroys himself trying to fit into the image of success that's been laid out before him and it only gets worse as it goes along, especially when he falls in love with a rich girl while dating a poor girl who--of course--becomes pregnant. I can't recommend this one highly enough (sounds awfully depressing though, doesn't it).


THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN - Mark Twain

I doubt it's necessary to remind anyone of the story here. This book is an essential and that's all there is to it. Every once in a while it's accused of being racist by a lot of middle class liberals totally lacking in historical perspective. It's not racist of course, it's actually anti-racist. That's what's so great about it. Huck's decision not to return Jim into slavery, saying he would rather go to hell than send Jim back into that is one of the greatest moments in book history (book history?). Yep.


JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE NIGHT - Louis-Ferdinand Celine

This one's about a fellow named Bardamu. . . and his misadventures during the first world war. . . and also his time in a french colony in africa. . . there's a brief trip to america. . . and then he becomes a doctor for the poor back in france. . . you know, all the hot spots of world suffering. . . (this last doctor to the poor part provides some of the most memorable moments in the book). . . Celine begins the novel with biting, completely cynical humor. . . but as it progresses. . . the character seems. . . less able to make light of the whole thing. . . he's still pessimistic. . . but it isn't funny anymore. . . I love this book. . . and Celine's unique use. . . of. . . ellipses. . .


THE RAGAZZI - Pier Paolo Pasolini

Before he was a filmmaker, Pasolini was a poet and novelist. This novel, like much of Pasolini's poetry and his early films, tells the story of a group of young people living in the slums in Italy. They steal scrap metal in order to survive or turn to more severe types of crime. Most of the time they wander around drunk and get into trouble. There's prostitution, a parent gets stabbed by their child, other children play games where they pretend to burn each other at the stake. It's a portrait of the so-called "sub-proletariat". It was condemned as obscene when it was first released in 1955 (so you know it's good).


IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK - James Baldwin

What moves me most about James Baldwin is his compassion. I don't know if any other writer tapped into the psychological trauma of racism the way James Baldwin did. He sees the way racism affects its victims but also the ways in which it destroys the racist too. One feels even in his "anger" at injustice there is more sorrow than actual anger. . . or at least sorrow is the starting point.

If Beale Street Could Talk tells the story of young black couple seperated by prison walls. Tish, the girl, is pregant and outside. Fonny is in jail for a crime he didn't commit. Baldwin shows the way this affects the couple and their working class families. It's a very moving story. A must-read for sure.


BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ - Alfred Doblin

You might describe Doblin as a cross between James Joyce and Bertolt Brecht. Like Joyce, he gives you stream-of-consciousness inner monologues mixed with sounds heard in the characters' environment. . . There's glimpses of news reports thrown in and a few lines here and there from a popular song. And like Brecht, Doblin tends to let you in on what's going to happen before it happens. He also has Brecht's class consciousness. This novel follows Franz Biberkopf as he is released from prison completely disoriented and feeling like all the buildings are going to topple over on him. Determined to go straight and avoid a life of crime, Franz gets odd jobs selling things on the street or door to door. But he soon finds he can't escape the underworld, and before long he's a pimp for his prostitute girlfriend and he's part of a gang of thieves. As he sinks deeper and deeper into all of this his psychological state begins to crumble. It's a pretty chilling book when you get right down to it. If An American Tragedy is the story of a man destroying himself on the way up, then Berlin Alexanderplatz is the story of a man destroying himself (or being destroyed) on the way down.