Favorite US Book 1915-1919

I'm not sure any Mencken volume is as awesome as the collection published in 1990, but it's tempting to vote for one over Prufrock and My Antonia. I voted for Cather because I suspect ILX (the world?) underrates her.

I voted My Antonia. I love Cather's crazy, paleoconservative ass.

Until the 1920's Cather's only equal as a novelist was Wharton.

I haven't really read enough of these to deserve to vote, but Winesburg, Ohio is such a strange, singular, wonderful artifact that I am voting for it without hesitation.

If UK novels were included here it'd be The Good Soldier, though.

lots of these i'd love to read - lardner, anderson, tarkington.

i think less of mencken every year. i thought he was a great writer until i actually tried to read one of those collections straight through.

This seems like a particularly strong period for poetry, not so much for fiction yet.

Was this really all that was going on? The Mencken is somewhat tempting, but I guess I'm going with Cathay, which I have a soft spot for.

Prufrock, then My Antonia.

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Prufrock.

ESVM all the way.

anybody who votes for pound is lying

or a sophomore lol

Fascinating poll-grist, and good Lord, what a high-water mark! My sweet-tooth for middlebrow pop poetry would incline me toward Masters and Millay, but Spoon River is just such a warhorse, and my favorite Edna is the later, burned-out one. Besides, a list that includes Prufrock and Mountain Interval raises the discourse to a point at which I dare not squeak.

Reed, Lardner, Mencken, Gilman: it'd be a day's work drawing all the contrasts and comparisons between these singular components of an unruly national voice in full cry. Not enough time or inclination to pick a favorite.

So, like a brokered old convention during the rowdy days of machine politics, we see a dark horse emerge, and it appears to be Willa Cather. My Antonia is the masterpiece, I suppose, but I'll go with the one that addresses the cost of ars gratia artis, that speaks of the inner life of the rock star, and that tells me something about the weird cult of pre-war opera: Song of the Lark.

The American Language is one of the all time greats re: being a bit drunk and picking up for diversion.

^^^ also good poop reading

I'm really not well read for an English major.

Can you dance?

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THROW THE BUM OUT.

Morbius, did you do your required reading?

Almost all of it. The only ones I recall from this group were "Prufrock" and Cather.