Quintessential American Fiction, According to the Rest of the World

This is one of the 743 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

Literary Hub, 100 Books

On the occasion of the 4th of July, we the asked the rest of the world for its opinion on American literature. In a deeply unscientific survey of nearly 50 writers, editors, publishers, critics, and translators, representing 30 countries, we asked them to name three quintessentially American books, and tell us about their choices.

This list was originally published in 2015 and was added to this site about 2 years ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
4 The Catcher in the Rye J. D. Salinger 1951 American English
7 Moby-Dick Herman Melville 1851 American English
42 On the Road Jack Kerouac 1957 American English
182 Light in August William Faulkner 1932 American English
569 American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis 1991 American English
22 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain 1884 American English
79 As I Lay Dying William Faulkner 1930 American English
1682 Train Dreams Denis Johnson 2002 American English
14 Lolita Vladimir Nabokov 1955 American English
333 Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace 1996 American English
459 Bartleby the Scrivener Herman Melville 1853 American English
410 Underworld Don DeLillo 1997 American English
117 The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers 1940 American English
54 The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway 1952 American English
73 The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne 1850 American English
1195 Light Years James Salter 1975 American English
203 A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole 1980 American English
417 Ragtime E. L. Doctorow 1975 American English
415 Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides 2002 American English
1565 To Build A Fire Jack London 1902 American English
2698 Close Range Annie Proulx 1999 American English
11614 Damned If I Do Percival Everett 2013 American English
1896 Tenth of December George Saunders 2013 American English
2851 A Mercy Toni Morrison 2008 American English
1756 Sabbath's Theater Philip Roth 1995 American English
1136 Miss Lonelyhearts Nathanael West 1933 American English
2961 Dog Soldiers Robert Stone 1974 American English
611 Revolutionary Road Richard Yates 1961 American English
185 U.S.A. Trilogy John Dos Passos 1930 American English
161 The Long Goodbye Raymond Chandler 1953 American English
1623 The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch Philip K. Dick 1965 American English
43 Absalom, Absalom! William Faulkner 1936 American English
6548 The Tortilla Curtain T. Coraghessan Boyle 1995 American English
8474 Postcards From The Edge Carrie Fisher 1987 American English
8694 Sweet Talk Stephanie Vaughn 1990 American English
291 The Road Cormac McCarthy 2006 American English
1087 Suttree Cormac McCarthy 1979 American English
10344 Sweet Land Stories E. L. Doctorow 2004 American English
1907 The Collected Stories Of Lydia Davis Lydia Davis 2009 American English
279 The Adventures of Augie March Saul Bellow 1953 American English
6810 The Pat Hobby Stories F. Scott Fitzgerald 1962 American English
346 The Day of the Locust Nathanael West 1939 American English
11868 Kinder Than Solitude Yiyun Li 2014 American English
418 The Human Stain Philip Roth 2000 American English
2177 No Country for Old Men Cormac McCarthy 2005 American English
2273 The Buddha in the Attic Julie Otsuka 2011 American English
10166 Winter Journal Paul Auster 2012 American English
10344 Still Can't See Nothin' Comin' Daniel Grey Marshall 2004 American English
419 A Visit From The Goon Squad Jennifer Egan 2010 American English
8775 What Work Is Philip Levine 1991 American English
692 Little House on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder 1935 American English
254 Babbitt Sinclair Lewis 1922 American English
3129 The Fortress of Solitude Jonathan Lethem 2003 American English
378 American Pastoral Philip Roth 1997 American English
10398 The Son Philipp Meyer 2013 American English
746 Blonde Joyce Carol Oates 2000 American English
1563 A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again David Foster Wallace 1997 American English
4519 Falconer John Cheever 1977 American English
183 The Moviegoer Walker Percy 1961 American English
3 The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald 1925 American English
6810 Donald Duck Carl Barks, Walt Disney 1942 American English
1930 On Self Reliance Ralph Waldo Emerson 1841 American English
1249 The Last Gentleman Walker Percy 1966 American English
981 Speedboat Renata Adler 1976 American English
923 Where I'm Calling From Raymond Carver 1988 American English
3610 11 22 63 Stephen King 2011 American English
6908 S.C.U.M. Manifesto Valerie Solanas 1967 American English
16 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee 1960 American English
1967 The Virgin Suicides Jeffrey Eugenides 1993 American English
441 Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2013 Nigerian English
757 Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury 1957 American English
85 Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut 1969 American English
703 The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin 1791 American English
6810 Tales Of The Jazz Age F. Scott Fitzgerald 1922 American English
6810 Collected Stories Of William Saroyan William Saroyan 1943 American English
1898 Collected Stories Of O. Henry O. Henry 1908 American English
6810 Tracy's Tiger William Saroyan 1951 American English
1472 What We Talk About When We Talk About Love Raymond Carver 1981 American English
607 House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski 2000 American English
5018 Theophilus North Thornton Wilder 1973 American English
2167 The Love Of The Last Tycoon F. Scott Fitzgerald 1941 American English
6810 The Swimmer John Cheever 1964 American English
6810 Let It Come Down Paul Bowles 1952 American English
717 A Sport and a Pastime James Salter 1967 American English
6810 Mark Twain's (Burlesque) Autobiography And First Romance Mark Twain 1871 American English
5403 Reflections In A Golden Eye Carson McCullers 1941 American English
564 Amerika Franz Kafka 1927 Czech German
49 Beloved Toni Morrison 1987 American English
120 The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler 1939 American English
6810 The Lost Weekend Charles Jackson 1944 American English
9506 King Suckerman George P. Pelecanos 1997 American English
2377 Less Than Zero Bret Easton Ellis 1985 American English
6291 Lord Of The Barnyard Tristan Egolf 1998 American English
1780 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Dave Eggers 2000 American English
7732 Geography Iii Elizabeth Bishop 1976 American English
4278 A Rose for Emily William Faulkner 1930 American English
9 The Sound and the Fury William Faulkner 1929 American English
909 The New York Trilogy Paul Auster 1985 American English
215 The Haunting of Hill House Shirley Jackson 1959 American English
679 Humboldt's Gift Saul Bellow 1975 American English