HOW RIDICULOUS?

Just how ridiculous is The Guardian‘s “100 Best Novels” list?

Never mind it’s called the best novels published in English. Do they mean originally in English? No, because there are a scattering of non-English language authors on the list. If they mean, published at some point in English, then foreign-born novelists are ridiculously under-represented. Or, the bias, the skewed viewpoint, is palpable.

The biggest problem with the Guardian’s list, however, is the novel chosen as #1 to be the face of the art form. “Middlemarch.” Not “War and Peace,” whose very name conjures images of the clash of forces, of drama, scope, and excitement. Instead: Middlemarch. The emphasis, as in all decisions of the established literary scene, is on keeping the art isolated from the general public. Can’t interest any of them! Well-placed snobset isolated-in-a-bubble readers only. Literature as snoozefest.

The kind of attitude any new version of literature needs to stand against.