The Guardian has unveiled its list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled from the votes of over 170 novelists, critics, and academics worldwide. Topping the list is George Eliot's Middlemarch, described as a vast cathedral of a novel that encompasses love, faith, friendship, betrayal, science, politics, morality, and power. Virginia Woolf famously called it one of the few English novels written for grown-up people.
A Collaborative Effort
Participants included prominent authors such as Salman Rushdie, Anne Enright, Yiyun Li, Elif Shafak, Ian McEwan, Maggie O’Farrell, Colm Tóibín, Lorrie Moore, and Katherine Rundell. Stephen King, one of the voters, noted that compiling such a list is impossible, lamenting the absence of Dickens from his own top 10. David Nicholls admitted his choices were skewed toward novels read at an impressionable age.
Increased Female Representation
The list features 36 female writers, up from 21 in 2015 and 16 in 2003. Half of the contemporary writers are women, signaling a much-needed reset in literary recognition. Toni Morrison's Beloved secured the second spot, while Virginia Woolf appears four times, making her the most represented author.
Notable Rankings
James Joyce's Ulysses ranks third, followed by Woolf's To the Lighthouse and Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time. Salman Rushdie is the highest-ranking living author with Midnight's Children at number 23. Other living authors include Kazuo Ishiguro, Han Kang, Hilary Mantel, Margaret Atwood, Marilynne Robinson, Elena Ferrante, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Zadie Smith.
Omissions and Surprises
Notable absentees include Norman Mailer, John Updike, Philip Roth, C.S. Lewis, William Golding, J.R.R. Tolkien, Angela Carter, Penelope Fitzgerald, and Iris Murdoch. However, Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Graham Greene's The End of the Affair made the cut. Patricia Highsmith is included, but John le Carré and Stephen King are not. Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness is recognized, while children's novels like The Wind in the Willows and Harry Potter are absent.
Future Prospects
The article speculates on potential future inclusions, such as Nella Larsen, Sally Rooney, Colson Whitehead, Percival Everett, or an unknown writer toiling over a modern Middlemarch. The list aims to inspire and enrage, as lists often do.
