CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN LITERATURE
FICTION
Agree, James. A Death in the Family
A moving novel which tells the story of a close and loving family forced to
confront the tragedy of sudden death and its effects on the lives of those left
behind.
Baldwin, James. Go Tell It on the Mountain
Fourteen-year old John seeks religious conversion in his struggle against
sin and the sensuous evils of Harlem in this realistic portrait of a youth trying
to triumph over the squalid world around him.
Bradbury, Ray. Farenheit 451
Guy Montag was a fireman whose job it was to start fires – burning books
and the houses they were hidden in. He had never questioned his job until
he met a girl who told him of a past where people were not afraid and a
professor who told him of a future in which people could think. Suddenly, life
was not so simple anymore.
Brown, Rosellen. Before and After
Before: a “perfect” family of Mon, Dad, Big Brother and Little Sister,
living the American Dream in a small New England town. After: Four people
at odds, changed forever by tragedy and shock. Can any family survive this?
Doctorow, E.L. Ragtime
In this novel of life in the early twentieth century, the author weaves
actual historical figures such as Houdini, among his fictional characters,
presenting an amazingly realistic portrayal of people and times.
Dorris, Michael. A Yellow Raft in Blue Water
The saga of three generations of native American women, narrated by
each in turn. Their bond of kinship remains unbroken, although it is sorely
tested through hardship and dark secrets.
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man
The terrifying experiences of a young black seeking identity during his
high school and college days, and later in New York’s Harlem.
Faulkner, William. The Sound and the Fury
The story of the decay of an aristocratic Southern family is told in part by
Benjamin, and idiot son with a chaotic understanding of life, and by Dilcey, a
great Negro figure who knows the key to life and survival because he’s seen
it all.
Guterson, David. Snow Falling on Cedars
The specter of the past intrudes during a murder trial, stirring up old
loves and past friendships, as well as recalling the wartime internment of the
Japanese-Americans.
Heller, Joseph. Catch-22
This satiric novel about WW II raises serious questions about war as well as
about the issue of sanity versus insanity, as the “hero,” Yossarian, struggles
to maintain his identity in a mad world.
Irving, John. The World According to Garp
T.S. Garp longs to achieve fame in order to live up to his renowned
mother. Alternatingly humorous and tragic, his story involves an incredible
array of unique characters and adventures.
Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
McMurphy, an irrepressible rebel, attempts to go against The
Establishment, and leads fellow inmates of a mental hospital in a struggle
against the tyrannical Big Nurse Ratched.
Kingsolver, Barbara. The Bean Trees
Taylor Greer’s goal was to get away. She bought a ’55 Volkswagon and
headed West, leaving behind her past in poor rural Kentucky. She pulled up
at an auto repair ship in Tucson, Arizona, and started a new life in this novel
of human struggle, touched with humor, adventure and love.
Kovic, Ron. Born on the Fourth of July
Kovic went off to fight in Vietnam brimming with patriotic enthusiasm. He
returns a wheelchair-bound paraplegic, feeling bitterness, betrayal and
outrage. What happened?
McCullers, Carson. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
The loneliness and isolation of the human condition are poignantly
portrayed by Mr. Singer, a deaf mute, and the characters who revolve around
him.
Morrison, Toni. Song of Solomon
Four generations of black life in America are traced in this powerful novel.
It begins in the present on the day of the birth of Macon Dead, Jr., son of the
richest black family in a Midwestern town. We follow him through his present
and future, and learn of his buried heritage.
O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carry
An episodic novel depicting the Viet Nam war from a myriad of different
perspectives.
Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar
An intimate portrait of a young girl’s descent into a private schizophrenic
hell and her first steps toward recovery as she seeks to gain her own
identity.
Proulx, E. Annie. Shipping News
When a fatal accident befalls his unfaithful wife, Coyle retreats to his
ancestral home in Newfoundland. In this seemingly inhospitable setting, he
discovers possibilities and hope.
Styron, William. Sophie’s Choice
Stingo, a would-be novelist from the South, Sophie, a gentile holocaust
survivor with a haunted past, and Nathan, her mad Jewish lover, find their
lives interwoven in this brilliant novel.
Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club
A powerful novel which explores the lives of four Chinese women and
their American-born daughters as they struggle with the tensions between
generations and cultures.
Tyler, Anne. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
Meet the Tull family: Jenny, the high spirited daughter, Cody, the wild,
incorrigible son; and Ezra, the gentle one, living out the dream of the
“perfect family”, which it could never be. A powerful portrait of a family out
of touch with itself.
Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr. Welcome to the Monkey House
The work brings together the finest of Vonnegut’s shorter works. Sex,
machines, pills, men and women, society, good and evil, time past, present
and future are among the subjects. They are touched with his usual powerful
style, bold sense of humor and unusual storytelling talent. (Also:
Slaughterhouse-five, a disturbing book about the Allied bombing of Dresden
during World War II; and Cat’s Cradle, dealing again with his theme of the
absurdity and madness of modern life.)
Walker, Alice. The Color Purple
Celie’s life was unrelentingly harsh. The child of black sharecroppers
during the Depression, she is subjected to abuse and isolation. But Celie is a
survivor, and she endured her painful experience with a spirit which cannot
be broken.
Wolfe, Tom. Bonfire of the Vanities
Sherman McCoy, a wealthy Wall Street WASP, takes a wrong turn while
driving with his mistress and finds himself in an urban nightmare of racism
and criminal injustice in this wickedly funny and satirical novel.
NON-FICTION
Angelou, Maya. I Know why the Caged Bird Sings
Maya’s childhood, marked by abuse and prejudice, could not defeat her
remarkable spirit.
Brown, Claude. Manchild in the Promised Land
Harlem at its ugliest, street gangs at their most terrifying and drugs at
their most destructive. This is the tale Brown survived to tell in this riveting
autobiography.
Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood
This is a perceptive and restrained are counting of the killing of the Klute
family by two no-account losers in Kansas in 1959. In this new art form, the
non-fiction novel. Capote follows the killers from before the murders through
their electrocution, simultaneously relating the police criminal man hunt.
Griffin, John Howard. Black Like Me
John Griffin, a White man, spent two months of his life as a black in the
Deep South during the late fifties, when segregation was the rule. This
narrative chronicles his experiences during that incredible period.
Haley, Alex. Roots
Inspired by his grandmother’s tales, Haley relates a saga of AfricanAmerican history from the time of the slave ships to the present, as lived by
the slave, Kunte Kinte, and his descendents.
Jenkins. Peter. A Walk Across America
A personal, moving account of one man’s efforts to understand his own
life within the context of life around him, as he takes a walking journey from
Connecticut to New Orleans.
Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior: Memories of a Girlhood
Among Ghosts
The Chinese-American experience is passionately portrayed by a young
woman who grew up torn between American life in modern San Francisco
and the ancient legends, traditions and folk beliefs of her Chinese heritage.
Malcolm X. The Autobiography of Malcolm X
This important document of black history is a revealing personal account
of life in the ghetto, in prison and as a Black Muslim.
Santiago, Esmeralda. When I was Puerto Rican
A young women’s journey from childhood in a Puerto Rican barrio to New
York, where she confronted life in the USA.
Thomas, Lewis. The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher
Looking through the microscope at the tiniest forms of life, Lewis sees in
their interrelationships clues to the mystery of life itself. This series of
essays has become a modern classic because of its fascinating philosophy
and very readable style.
Thomas, Piri. Down These Mean Streets
Thomas was an addict and an armed robber who grew up in a Spanish
Harlem barrio – and got out. This powerful story describes his life in, and
escape from, urban hell.
DRAMA
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman
A modern tragedy of an ordinary man, incapable of perceiving any sort of
truth or reality, who is confronted with his failure as a husband and father.
O’Neill, Eugene. A Long Day’s Journey Into Night
This family tragedy, based on the author’s youth, features the Tyrones, a
loving-hating family plagued by alcoholism, illness and emotional torment, as
they alternate between rage and tenderness.
Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie
Set during the Depression, this play portrays the Wingfield family, each
member unable to cope with a problem: a mother with her vanity, a son
with his ambition, and a daughter with her physical handicap. They cannot
help themselves, much less each other. (Also: A Streetcar named Desire –
The DuBois sisters are the last members of an impoverished Southern
plantation family. Blanche has created a fantasy life of gentility, which is
exposed by Stanley. Stella’s brutish husband, resulting in an exploitive and
tragic climax.)
SHORT NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES
Bradbury, Ray. The Illustrated Man
Nineteen stories, told by the “illustrations” tattooed over the whole body
of a man, which explore both inner and outer space. Bradbury masterfully
combines his science fiction writing with his perceptiveness in examining
complex emotions.
Cheever, John. “The Angel of the Bridge.”
“Torch song.” (and others)
Faulkner, William. The Bear
A favorite theme of Faulkner’s, the education of a boy into manhood, is
treated in this tale of Isaac and Sam Feathers and “the bear.”
Faulkner, William. The Old Man
The unnamed convict in this tale struggles to survive through endurance,
a sense of humor, self respect, and decency. He is Faulkner’s “everyman”,
and he “just keeps rolling along.”
O’Connor, Flannery. “A Good Man is Hard to Find.’
“Greenleaf”
“The River.” (and others)
Thurber, James. “The Catbird Seat.”
“The Macbeth Murder Mystery.”
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” (and others)
Updike, John. “A & P.”
“The Lucid Eye in Silver Town.”
POETRY
Cummings, E.E.
Ferlinghetti, Lawrence.
Ginsberg, Alan (and the Beat Poets).
Jarrell, Randall.
Plath, Sylvia.
Sexton, Anne