English American writers. American writers and their works

“Sinlessness” became a real sensation last year: it is called Franzen’s most scandalous and most Russian novel. Discussions about pressing social issues, the totalitarian nature of the Internet, feminism and politics are intertwined with the deep, very personal story of one family.

A young girl named Pip's life is a complete mess: she doesn't know her father, can't pay off her student debt, doesn't know how to build relationships, and has a boring job. But her life changes dramatically when she becomes an assistant to hacker Andreas Wulff, who loves nothing more than to publicly reveal other people's secrets.

2. The Secret History, Donna Tartt

Richard Papen remembers student years at a private college in Vermont: he and several of his comrades attended a private course by an eccentric teacher on ancient culture. One prank of an elite circle of students ended in a murder, which only at first glance remained unpunished.

After the incident, other secrets of the heroes are revealed, which lead to new tragedies in their lives.

3. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis

Ellis's most famous novel is already considered modern classics. Main character- Patrick Bateman, a handsome, rich and seemingly intelligent young man from Wall Street. But behind the good looks and expensive suits lies greed, hatred and rage. At night he tortures and kills people in the most in sophisticated ways, without a system and without a plan.

4. “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer

A touching story from the perspective of a 9-year-old boy Oscar. His father died in one of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. While examining his father's closet, Oscar finds a vase, and in it is a small envelope with the inscription "Black" and a key inside. Inspired and filled with curiosity, Oscar is ready to go around all the Blacks in New York to find the answer to the riddle. This is a story about overcoming bereavement, post-disaster New York, and human kindness.

5. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

"The Catcher in the Rye" o modern teenagers- this is how critics dubbed Stephen Chbosky’s book, which sold a million copies and was filmed by the author himself.

Charlie is a typical quiet person, a silent observer of what is happening, turns into high school. After a recent nervous breakdown, he withdrew into himself. To overcome his inner feelings, he begins to write letters. Letters to a friend, unknown person- to the reader of this book. On the advice of his new comrade Pete, he tries to become “not a sponge, but a filter” - to live life to the fullest, and not watch her from the side.

6. The Hours, Michael Cunningham

The story of a day in the life three women from different eras from a Pulitzer Prize winner. The destinies of the British writer Virginia Woolf, the American housewife Laura from Los Angeles and the publishing editor Clarissa Vaughan, at first glance, are connected only by the book - the novel Mrs. Dalloway. But by the end it becomes clear that the lives and problems of the heroines, despite all the external differences, are the same.

7. Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn

Nick and Amazing Amy are the perfect couple. But on the day of the fifth anniversary, Amy disappears from the house - there are all traces of abduction. The whole city goes in search of the missing woman and sympathizes with Nick until Amy's diary falls into the hands of the police, because of which her husband becomes the main suspect in the murder. The main intrigue of the novel is who was the real victim in this situation.

Flynn's novel attracts with its unconventional view of modern marriage: partners marry beautiful projections of each other and then are very surprised when behind the invented image a living person is discovered, whom they do not know at all.

8. Slaughterhouse-Five, or the Children's Crusade, Kurt Vonnegut

The writer's difficult war experience is reflected in this novel. Memories of the bombing in Dresden are shown through the eyes of the absurd, timid soldier Billy Pilgrim - one of those foolish children who were thrown into a terrible war. But Vonnegut would not be himself if he had not also introduced an element of fantasy into the novel: either due to post-traumatic syndrome, or due to alien intervention, Pilgrim learned to travel in time.

Despite the fantastic nature of what is happening, the message of the novel is quite real and clear: Vonnegut ridicules stereotypes about “real men” and demonstrates the pointlessness of wars.

9. “Beloved,” Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison received the Nobel Prize in Literature for "bringing to life an important aspect of American reality" And Time magazine named the novel “Beloved” one of the 100 best books in English.

The main character is the slave Sethe, who, along with her children, escaped from her cruel masters and remained free for only 28 days. When the chase overtakes Sethe, she kills her daughter with her own hands - so that she does not know slavery and does not experience the same thing as her mother. The memory of the past and this terrible choice haunts Sethe all her life.

10. A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin

Fantasy epic about magical world The Seven Kingdoms, where the struggle for the Iron Throne continues, while a terrible winter approaches the entire continent. On this moment Five novels out of a planned seven have been published. The remaining two parts are awaited by both fans of the writer’s work and fans of “”, a series based on the saga that is breaking all popularity records.

1. Truman Capote - "Summer Cruise"
Truman Capote is one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century, author of such bestsellers as Breakfast at Tiffany's, Other Voices, Other Rooms, In Cold Blood and The Meadow Harp. We bring to your attention the debut novel written by the twenty-year-old Capote, when he first arrived from New Orleans to New York, and for sixty years was considered lost. The manuscript for "Summer Cruise" surfaced at Sotheby's in 2004, and was first published in 2006. In this novel, Capote, with unsurpassed stylistic grace, describes the dramatic events in the life of high-society debutante Grady McNeil, who remains in New York for the summer while her parents sail to Europe. She falls in love with the parking lot attendant and flirts with her childhood friend, remembers her past hobbies and dances in fashionable dance halls...

2. Irving Shaw - "Lucy Crown"
The book includes one of the most famous novels American prose writer and playwright Irwin Shaw "Lucy Crown" (1956). Like the writer's other works - "Two Weeks in Another City", "Evening in Byzantium", "Rich Man, Poor Man" - this novel opens up to the reader a world of fragile connections and complex, sometimes unpredictable relationships between people. The story about how one mistake can turn the whole life of a person and his loved ones upside down, about unappreciated and destroyed family happiness is told deceptively in simple language, amazes the author with his knowledge of human psychology and invites the reader to reflection and empathy.

3. John Irving - "Men Not Her Life"
An undoubted classic modern literature The West and one of its undisputed leaders plunges the reader into a mirror labyrinth of reflections: fears from children's books once popular writer Ted Cole is suddenly overgrown with flesh, and now the fabulous mole man turns into a real maniac killer, so that almost forty years later Ruth Cole, the writer’s daughter, also a writer, collecting material for the novel, becomes a witness to him brutal crime. But first and foremost, Irving's novel is about love. The atmosphere of condensed sensuality, love without shores and restrictions fills its pages with a certain magnetic force, turning the reader into a participant in a magical action.

4. Kurt Vonnegut - "Mother Darkness"
A novel in which the great Vonnegut, with his characteristic dark and mischievous humor, explores inner world...a professional spy reflecting on his own direct participation in the destinies of the nation.

Writer and playwright Howard Campbell, recruited by American intelligence, is forced to play the role of an ardent Nazi - and gets a lot of pleasure from his cruel and dangerous masquerade.

He deliberately piles absurdity upon absurdity, but the more surreal and comical his Nazi “exploits” are, the more they trust him, the more more people listen to his opinion.

However, wars end in peace - and Campbell will have to live without the opportunity to prove his non-involvement in the crimes of Nazism...

5. Arthur Haley - "Final Diagnosis"
Why did Arthur Hailey's novels captivate the whole world? What made them classics of world fiction? Why, as soon as “Hotel” and “Airport” came out in our country, they were literally swept off the shelves, stolen from libraries, given to friends “in line” to read?

Very simple. The works of Arthur Haley are a kind of “slices of life”. Life at the airport, hotel, hospital, Wall Street. A closed space in which people live - with their joys and sorrows, ambitions and hopes, intrigues and passions. People work, fight, fall in love, break up, achieve success, break the law - that’s life. That's what Hayley's novels are like...

6. Jerome Salinger - "The Glass Saga"
"Jerome David Salinger's series of stories about the Glass family is a masterpiece American literature XX century, "a blank piece of paper instead of an explanation." Zen Buddhism and nonconformism in Salinger's books inspired more than one generation to rethink life and search for ideals.
Salinger loves the Glasses more than God loves them. He loves them too exclusively. Their invention became a hermit's hut for him. He loves them to the point that he is ready to limit himself as an artist."

7. Jack Kerouac - "Dharma Bums"
Jack Kerouac gave a voice to an entire generation in literature for his short life managed to write about 20 books of prose and poetry and became the most famous and controversial author of his time. Some branded him as a subverter of foundations, others considered him a classic modern culture, but from his books all beatniks and hipsters learned to write - to write not what you know, but what you see, firmly believing that the world itself will reveal its nature.

"Dharma Bums" is a celebration of the outback and the bustling metropolis, Buddhism and the San Francisco poetic revival, it is built like jazz improvisation, a story about the spiritual quest of a generation that believed in kindness and humility, wisdom and ecstasy; generation, the manifesto and bible of which was another Kerouac novel, “On the Road,” which brought the author worldwide fame and entered the golden fund of American classics.

8. Theodore Dreiser - "An American Tragedy"
The novel "An American Tragedy" is the pinnacle of the work of the outstanding American writer Theodore Dreiser. He said: “No one creates tragedies - life creates them. Writers only depict them.” Dreiser managed to portray the tragedy of Clive Griffiths so talentedly that his story does not leave anyone indifferent and modern reader. A young man who has tasted all the charm of the life of the rich is so eager to establish himself in their society that he commits a crime for this.

9. John Steinbeck - "Cannery Row"
The inhabitants of a poor neighborhood in a small seaside town...

Fishermen and thieves, small traders and swindlers, "moths" and their sad and cynical "guardian angel" - a middle-aged doctor...

The heroes of the story cannot be called respectable; they do not get along well with the law. But it is impossible to resist the charm of these people.

Their adventures, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, under the pen of the great John Steinbeck, turn into a real saga about a Man - both sinful and holy, vile and ready for self-sacrifice, deceitful and sincere...

10. William Faulkner - "The Mansion"
"Mansion" - last book William Faulkner's trilogy "The Village", "The Town", "The Mansion", dedicated to the tragedy of the aristocracy of the American South, which was faced with a painful choice - to preserve former ideas of honor and fall into poverty, or to break with the past and join the ranks of nouveau riche businessmen making quick and not very clean money on progress.
The mansion in which Flem Snopes settles gives the title to the entire novel and becomes the place where the inevitable and terrible events, rocked Yoknapatawaw County.

American writers- authors who created American literature, the youngest literature in the world. Appearing at the end of the 18th century, it began to develop intensively in the 19th and 20th centuries. This literature is steeped in the romanticism of creating a new world, a new person and new relationships. The list of the most famous American writers and their works is far from complete, but we are working... If you read a work and really liked it, then let us know and we will publish it on the site.

Their best books, stories and stories can be read in Russian and English. We also suggest looking best film adaptations works. For English language learners there are short adapted stories, films with subtitles and cartoons in English, as well as free lessons in English online.

American writers and their works (classics)

Washington Irving (1783-1859)

Full of mysticism and adventurism, stories about American pioneers from the founder of American literature, author of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" in English and Russian.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

Read best stories representative of American romanticism and the founder of the modern detective story - Edgar Allan Poe, author poem "Raven"(). The most famous stories writer - Black Cat, Gold Bug, Murder in the Rue Morgue.

O. Henry / O. Henry (1862-1910)

American Don Quixote, sad storyteller of the 20th century, master of an unexpected denouement and a certainly good ending - O. Henry. His most famous stories are Gifts of the Magi, The Last Leaf.

Jack London (1876-1916)

The most famous American writer is a man who went from the “abyss to the top” and made himself, the author of the series "Northern Stories" and novel "Martin Eden". The most famous stories - Love of life, Build a fire, Piece of meat.

Ray Bradbury (1920-2011)

A great science fiction writer who captivated his readers in bright world fantasy, author famous works Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451, Dandelion Wine.

That's not all American writers who brought glory to their country. Materials on our website have not yet been published Fenimore Cooper, Mark Twain, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Theodore Dreiser, Ernest Hemingway and some others. The gap will definitely be filled.

1. Jerome Salinger - “The Catcher in the Rye”
A classic writer, a mystery writer, who at the peak of his career announced his retirement from literature and settled far from worldly temptations in a remote American province. Salinger's only novel, The Catcher in the Rye, became a turning point in the history of world literature. Both the title of the novel and the name of its main character, Holden Caulfield, became a code word for many generations of young rebels.

2. Nell Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
The novel, first published in 1960, had resounding success and immediately became a bestseller. This is not surprising: Harper Lee, having learned the lessons of Mark Twain, found her own style a narrative that allowed her to show the world of adults through the eyes of a child, without simplifying or impoverishing it. The novel was awarded one of the most prestigious US literature prizes, the Pulitzer, and was published in millions of copies. It has been translated into dozens of languages ​​around the world and continues to be republished to this day.

3. Jack Kerouac - “On the Road”
Jack Kerouac gave a voice to an entire generation in literature, during his short life he managed to write about 20 books of prose and poetry and became the most famous and controversial author of his time. Some branded him as a subverter of foundations, others considered him a classic of modern culture, but from his books all the beatniks and hipsters learned to write - to write not what you know, but what you see, firmly believing that the world itself will reveal its nature. It was the novel “On the Road” that brought Kerouac worldwide fame and became a classic of American literature.

4. Francis Scott Fitzgerald - "The Great Gatsby"
The best novel by American writer Francis Scott Fitzgerald, a poignant story of eternal dreams and human tragedy. According to the author himself, “the novel is about how illusions are wasted, which give the world such color that, having experienced this magic, a person becomes indifferent to the concept of true and false.” The dream that Jay Gatsby is captivated by, coming into direct contact with ruthless reality, breaks down and buries the hero who believed in it as truth under its rubble.

5. Margaret Mitchell - “Gone with the Wind”
The Great Saga of Civil War in the USA and about the fate of the wayward and ready to go over heads Scarlett O'Hara was first published 70 years ago and does not become outdated to this day. Gone with the Wind is Margaret Mitchell's only novel for which she, an emancipatory writer and women's rights activist, received a Pulitzer Prize. This book is about how love for life can be more important than love; then, when the breakthrough to survival is successfully completed, love becomes preferable, but without love of life, love also dies.

6. Ernest Hemingway - “For Whom the Bell Tolls”
Full of tragedy is the story of a young American who came to Spain, engulfed in civil war.
A brilliant and sad book about war and love, true courage and self-sacrifice, moral duty and the enduring value of human life.

7. Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451

September 24 is the 120th anniversary of the birth of one of the most famous American writers, Francis Scott Fitzgerald. It is also one of the most difficult to understand, although at first the reader’s eye and mind are blinded by the brilliance of the parties described, behind it lie deep moral and social problems. The editors of YUGA.ru together with the network bookstores“Read City” has selected six more iconic works for this date that will help you look at America and Americans with different eyes.

"The Great Gatsby" - great novel, but there is no greatness either in the life or in the soul of his main character, there are only sparkling illusions, “which give the world such color that, having experienced this magic, a person becomes indifferent to the concept of true and false.” The wealthy millionaire Jay Gatsby had already lost them and, along with them, lost the opportunity to again feel the taste of life and love - and yet all their treasures were at his feet.

The reader is presented with the America of Prohibition, gangsters, playmakers and brilliant parties to the music of Duke Ellington. That very “jazz age,” a magnificent age when it still seemed that all desires would come true, and you could get a star from the sky without even standing on your tiptoes.

The portrait of the main character of the "Trilogy of Desire" series, Frank Cowperwood, is largely based on a real-life person, millionaire Charles Yerkes, and in the last few years, viewers around the world have been following the life central figure series " House of cards", Frank Underwood. It can be assumed that the president even borrowed the name “great and terrible” from the character created by Dreiser. His whole life revolves around success, he is a prudent financier and builds his empire, using everything and everyone for his own purposes. That’s right, " Financier", is the name of the first novel of the trilogy, where we see how the personality of a prudent businessman was formed, who is ready, without hesitation, to step over the law and moral principles if they become an obstacle on his way.

The most acutely social and accusatory book ever written in the USA and about the USA, The Grapes of Wrath has perhaps no impact on the reader. less texts Solzhenitsyn. The cult novel was first published in 1939, received a Pulitzer Prize, and the author himself was awarded Nobel Prize on literature. A portrait of a nation during one of the most difficult periods in history, the Great Depression, is painted through the story of a farming family who, after going bankrupt, are forced to uproot and seek food on a grueling journey across the country on that same "Route 66". Like thousands, hundreds of thousands of other people, they go for illusory hope to sunny California, but even greater difficulties, hunger and death await them.

451° Fahrenheit is the temperature at which paper ignites. Bradbury's philosophical dystopia paints a picture post-industrial society: this is the world of the future, in which all written publications are mercilessly destroyed by a special squad of firefighters, the possession of books is prosecuted by law, interactive television successfully serves to fool everyone, punitive psychiatry decisively deals with rare dissidents, and an electric dog comes out to hunt for incorrigible dissidents. Today, in Russia in 2016, the relevance of the novel published in 1953 (already 63 years ago!) is greater than ever - in different parts of the country, home-grown censors are raising their heads who seek to limit freedom of speech precisely by destroying and banning books.

Jack London's life was just as romantic - at least, if we consider his biography through a certain lyrical prism, - and is filled with events, like his novels, and Martin Eden is considered the pinnacle of his work. This work is about a man who achieved recognition of his talent by society, but was deeply disappointed in the respectable bourgeois stratum that finally accepted him. In the words of the writer himself, this is “the tragedy of a loner trying to instill the truth in the world.” A truly timeless work and a hero whose feelings are understandable to readers on any continent and in any era.

One of the most difficult to understand, but at the same time incredibly interesting and multifaceted authors, Kurt Vonnegut wrote, mixing genres and always leaving the reader with uncertainty - what exactly did he just read, was it an appeal to himself through the pages of a book and What are we even talking about here? In “Breakfast for Champions,” the author surprisingly subtly and accurately destroys stereotypes of perception, showing us man and life on Earth with a detached look, looking as if from another planet, where they don’t know what an apple or a weapon is. The main character, writer Kilgore Trout, is both the author’s alter ego and his interlocutor, he is going to get literary prize. At the same time, someone who reads his novel (the character, Dwayne Hoover, was played by Bruce Willis in the 1999 film adaptation) slowly goes crazy, taking everything written in it at face value and losing touch with reality - as he begins to doubt the reader is also in it.

In John Updike's first novel in the Rabbit series, Harry Engstrom - and this is precisely his nickname - is a young man for whom the rose-colored glasses of his youth have already been broken by the inexorable reality. He went from being the star of his high school basketball team to becoming a husband and father, forced to work in a supermarket to provide for his family. He is unable to come to terms with this and goes on the run. Updike and Kerouac seem to be talking about the same people, but in different tones - so those who have read the latter’s work “On the Road” will be interested in moving from beatnik literature to complex psychological prose, and those who haven’t read it will undoubtedly have a lot of fun switching their attention and diving even deeper into the same topic.