Col's Literary Journey
Col's literary journey
Col, this has sat on my hard disk for yonks, waiting to be finished. Then I realized
that it wasn't meant to be my lifetime's work–you just wanted a list of books
worth reading, so I've just printed out what I've done off the top of my head.
Anyway, that's my disclaimer if you ever become a prominent literary critic and
want to take me to task.
Enjoy!
Greg C
Odd thoughts on reading
I'm convinced that reading is a HABIT, like watching our favourite TV programme
or playing sport on a Saturday morning. In order to do more reading, we need to
find a time, a place, a routine for it. I've recently discovered that this is even more
the case once you have children!
My hunch is that you ought to read 'backwards'. Start with a few contemporary
novels that attract your eye, before moving backwards in history. If you try to
start with Shakespeare, you never get past ACT I Scene II. Better to read whatever
grabs you on the Latest Reteaseshetf and enjoy the activity. That way, you
gather more energy and reading skill for tackling the harder books.
Hence, the lists below are arranged in reverse chronological order, which is
the way I'd tackle them.
o Some reasonable starting points for getting a general grasp of literature, its
influence, its history and the issues for Christians are:
Letand Ryken o Triumphs of the Imagination f'
Stuart Babbage o The Mark of Cain
Susan Gattagher & Roger Lundin o Literature through the eyes of faith
C. S. Lewis o 'Christianity and culture' in Christian Reflections
Harotd Bloom on The Western Canon (this book includes a list of all the books this
eminent critics thinks will Last through the centuries.
My 'Ten Books Before Col Shuffles Off' list
SHAKESPEARE
Hamlet
King Lear
Macbeth
CONRAD
Heart of Darkness
BECKETT
Waiting For Godot
GOLDING
Lord of the Flies
TOLKIEN
Lord of the Rings
BUNYAN
Pilgrim's Progress
DANTE
The Divine Comedy
C.S. LEWIS
The Narnia series
That should at least be do-able. You can then start filling in the gaps however you
wish from the following list of authors worth reading. They're arranged from
modern to ancient (roughly). Today's critics would call my list eurocentric', but
don't let that bother you. Atso, I don't at this stage know much about Australian
literature.
USA
John UPDIKE o the Rabbit novels
Saul" BELLOW o Mr Sammler's Planet, Herzog
Walker PERCY . The Second Coming
Flannery 0'C0NN0R o Everything that rises must converge (stories)
F. Scott FITZGERALD o The Great Gatsby
Ernest HEMINGWAY . The Sun AIso Rises
Wil.tiam FAULKNER o The Sound and the Fury
Henry JAMES o Portrait of a Lady
Nathaniet HAWTH0RNE o the Scarlet Letter
AUST
Tim WINT0N o That Eye, the SW, The Riders
Peter G0LDSWORTHY o Honk if you are Jesus
David MALOUF o An Imaginary Life
Peter CAREY o }scar and Lucinda
Patrick WHITE . The Tree of Man
UK
Charles DICKENS o Great Expectations
Charlotte BRONTE o Jane Eyre
Emily BRONTE o Wuthering Heights
George ELI0T o Scenes of Clerical Life, Middlemarch
./Thomas HARDY . Iess of the d.'Urbervilles f J,,.u
D.H. LAWRENCE o The Rainbow, Women In Love, Sons and Lovers
G.K. CHESTERT0N o The Father Brown stories
.Lewis CARRoLL . Alice in Wonderland
ir James JOYCE o Dubliners (stories)
Graham GREENE . The Power and the Glory
OTHER
Umberto ECO (Italy) ' The Name of the Rose
Shusako ENDO (Japan) o Silence
Salman RUSHDIE (India) o l,Midnight's Children
Atbert CAMUS o The outsider, The FaIl
Franz KAFKA o The Trial, The Castle
Fyodor D0ST0EVSKY o The Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment
Leo TOLST}Y o Anna Karenina
There is very little genre fiction in this [ist: crime, science fiction, romance,
western, etc. It's alt literature'. That's not because I'm a snob, it's just that it's
much easier to find the genre fiction that you like without a guide, and it's not
the sort of thing that you need a 'top 10' for. Having said that, here are a few big
names who have caught my attention because they interact with Christianity:
P.D. James o The Children of luIen, etc
Morris West o The Clowns of God, etc
Susan Howatch o Glittering Images, etc
Books I found dutt that other Christians praise:
Herman MELVILLE o Moby Dick
Daniel DEF0E o Robinson Crusoe
Mark TWAIN o Huckleberry Finn
Garrison KEILL0R o Lake Wobegon Days (ok, mildly amusing)
POETRY
If you ever feel inclined...
It's a bit like classical music. It's hard to know how to get started on it, but once
you stop feeling intimidated and just let it wash over you for a white, you realise
that it is starting to become enjoyable and to make some sense.
Certainly, a literary education is deficient without it. Here are just a few big names
you might enjoy, again in reverse chronological order (the best way to read them is
to get hold of their Collected or Selected Works):
Les MURRAY
Kenneth SLESS0R
Bruce DAWE
Judith WRIGHT
Phittip LARKIN
William Butter YEATS
T.S. ELIOT
Emily DICKINS0N
Robert FROST
Gerard Mantey HOPKINS
Samuel Taytor C0LERIDGE
John MILT0N o Paradise Lost
John D0NNE o HoIy Sonnets
Edmund SPENSER o The Faerie Queen (a Christian allegory)