1. Herman Melville = Moby D.ick
This novel was written by Herman Melville in 1851. It is an
important piece of literature because of its philosophical ideas about nature,
life, death, and everything in general, written as if it were a travelogue, or
a scientific text about whales. There are moments where whales and different
types of whales are described at length, but there are also various religious
and philosophical themes as well.
2. Nathaniel Hawthorne = The Scarlet Letter
This novel was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850. It
tells the story of a woman who commits adultery in a Puritan society. She is
condemned not only by the society but also by herself for cheating on her
husband and getting pregnant with another man. As a symbol of her adultery, she
wears a scarlet letter A embroidered to her clothes.
3. Harriet Beecher Stowe = Uncle Tom’s Cabin
This famous novel was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in
1852. It is an important piece of literature as it is an anti-slavery novel
which in a way led to the Civil War between the North and the South (one of the
most important issues was the issue of slavery and whether it should be kept or
not).
4. James Fenimore Cooper = The Last of the Mohicans
This novel was published in 1826 and is probably Cooper’s
most famous work. It is part of pentalogy (5 books in a series) known as the
Leatherstocking Tales. The novel tells the story of the French and Indian War
in 1757, during a time when the French and the British tried to take over North
America.
5. Mark Twain = Adventures of Tom Sawyer
A novel published in 1876, it tells the story of its titular
character, Tom Sawyer, as he is growing up near the Mississippi River, in the
town of St. Petersburg. The novel portrays Tom’s adventures with his friends,
the most famous of which is Huckleberry Finn, as they find gold that criminals
have stolen and hidden away.
6. Willa Cather = O Pioneers!
A novel published in 1913, it tells the story of an
immigrant family from Sweden, the Bergsons, who moved to America in pursuit of
a better life. We read about their lives and struggles to keep up the farm they
inherited from a deceased relative. It is part of Cather’s trilogy called The Great
Plains, which also includes her novels The Song of the Lark and My Antonia.
7. Sinclair Lewis = Main Street
The full name of this novel is Main Street: The Story of Carol
Kennicott. It was published in 1920 and it tells the story of Carol Milford as
she is growing up and becoming an adult. She has big dreams to change the
society around her, but ultimately doesn’t succeed in doing that. The novel is
quite satirical, which is characteristic of Lewis.
8. Robert Penn Warren = All the King’s Men
First published in 1946, this novel was an inspiration for
an Academy Award for Best Picture winning movie in 1949. Warren even got the
Pulitzer Prize for this novel which tells the story of Willie Stark, who
becomes governor and we find out what that life is like.
9. Thornton Wilder = The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Wilder’s second novel, published in 1927, The Bridge of San
Luis Rey got him a Pulitzer Prize for literature in 1928. It tells the story of
when a bridge collapsed in Peru, and what happened to the people who lived
there at the time. It is philosophical at moments.
10. John Steinbeck = The Pearl
This novel was written by John Steinbeck in 1947. It is one
of his most famous works and it tells the story of a pearl hunter, Kino. It is
a parable, an allegory of human life, and a satire about how people are vain
and greedy and would do anything for wealth and riches. It has been adapted
into many successful movies.
