Classic genre: 11 books that will be included in the school curriculum of our grandchildren

© Nicole Wong

Mark Twain once said that classics are books that everyone praises but nobody reads. And if today, according to the program of English literature, schoolchildren torture Jane Austen and Ernest Hemingway, then which writers of the XXI century will enter the canon of the future? Taking a closer look at the most influential authors of our time, Mic has selected 11 books that should be included in the school curriculum.

When Zadie Smith published her first novel, she was only 24 years old. This did not prevent her from brilliantly and confidently describing the racial, religious and class problems of her heroes, who have preserved friendships since their military service. In 2005, Time magazine included the book in its list of best novels from 1923 to 2005, calling it “the world’s first novel to fully reflect our postcolonial, globalized world, where the boundaries between races and nations are blurred even within families.” This key book for that era and the historical situation is sure to remain on the reading lists for many years to come.



Martel's novel shows the power of the human will to live, which manifests itself even in the most unexpected places. In the summer of 1977, Pi spent 227 days in a boat with a tiger. In 2010, Barack Obama wrote to Martellus, praising his work for "elegant proof of the existence of God and the power of storytelling." Director Ang Lee made a film based on the novel, which won 4 Oscars.

"Middle sex"

Jeffrey Eugenides, 2002

It is even difficult to say what is more catchy here: the style of Eugenides or the twisted plot of the narrative. Let us assume that one is inseparable from the other. The hero of this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, hermaphrodite Kall, has already become part of literary history. At stake are issues of nationality, genetics and gender identity. The story is so shocking that the novel deserves to be canonized.



The novel takes place in Kabul and is set against the backdrop of the fall of the Afghan monarchy and the rise of the Taliban. The story of Amir’s friendship with Hassan, the boy and son of his father’s servant, turns into a serious conversation about responsibility, guilt, and what we humans owe to each other. This book, published just after September 11 and the American war in Afghanistan, hit the nerves of the era. Publishers Weekly said the story is based on a world we don’t yet know but are just beginning to learn. Our children will know the world much better.



The Bengal couple moved to the United States in 1968. Fadaptation is not easy for them, but it is even more difficult for their son, Gogol. Growing up, he begins to reject his Bengali identity in favor of the American order. Issues of nationality and family dominate the pages of this novel, which the New York Times called "a wonderfully delicate and delicate family portrait." Lahiri herself has already become one of the main authors of the century, but if you choose which of her works will go down in history, then Tezka is of course a worthy contender.

Gilead.

Marilyn Robinson, 2004.



Robinson's second novel, after Housekeeping, written in the 80s, is a collection of letters from the dying Rev. John Ames to his son. In these appeals are concentrated all the wisdom that the father would like to pass on to his son. In 2005, Gillead won the Pulitzer Prize, and according to Barack Obama’s Facebook profile, it is one of the president’s favorite books.



Diaz at his best: we meet Oscar, an obese Dominican boy passionate about fiction and comics when he turns 7, and the author, with his amazing love for his characters, witnesses all the complexities of his growing up. In 2008, the book won the Pulitzer as well as the National Book Criticism Award.

"Time laughs last"

Jennifer Egan, 2010.



The heroes of the novel by Jennifer Egan, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 2011, can not defeat the craving for self-destruction and indulgence of their own whims. Egan writes so cleverly and clearly that you get used to it too quickly. Each chapter of her book (or, better, a story, because each one of them is independent) captures its bright sadness. It’s a book about growing up, about monstrous mistakes, and about the trials of life in the music industry.



Of course, the canon also requires “Amendments”, but in his second novel, Franzen more accurately describes the fears and anxieties of the Midwest after September 11 and the environmental and political problems of the new America. If our great-grandchildren ever read about Patti and Walter Berglund, we will be able to remember this era with fondness.



Arguably Munro’s best collection, fully reflecting her extraordinary talent for storytelling. It won’t be easy to pick one story out of the entire collection, but Reliable Background, the story of growing up as a 13-year-old girl whose parents left as missionaries to Africa, stands out even against an outstanding background. The Guardian praised the Canadian Nobel laureate’s stories for “accuracy, subtlety and craftsmanship,” as well as for “hidden, not always perceptible, radiance.”



Saunders’s highly bizarre tales add up to a utterly mesmerizing reading – born only of imagination, unlike anything we have read before. It is easy to imagine that readers of the future will be similarly impressed by these stories, remaining as bizarre as they were to us. The book won the Story Prize, awarded annually for the best collection of short stories, and it is impossible not to agree with the website Kirkus, who noted that “like Saunders, no one writes at all.”

Source: theoryandpractice.ru