Recommend some books to me

[womzilla]

Assume that I have read no novel published in the 19th century, in any language--I'm embarrassed by the degree this is almost completely true. (I will probably list the few I have read in a comment to this post.)

What are the first 20 or 30 novels I should read to close this chasm of ignorance? And where should I look for other recommendations? I've found a couple of "great novels of the 19th century" lists, but not many.

Oh, it probably doesn't make sense to recommend more than two novels by the same author. And for these purposes, "novel" can include "single, outstanding collection of short fiction and/or drama".

Edited to add: Lots of great stuff recommended so far, though unsurprisingly heavy on English-language works, though French and Russian have shown up. I'm haven't seen any recommendations for anything originally in Italian, German, or Spanish--is there really no one noteworthy in German literature between Goethe and Mann? Or Spanish between Cervantes and Borges?

Comments

[baldanders.livejournal.com]

Don't let the Henry James haters put you off at least trying him; I think he's marvelous, and if you're a Delany fan -- I don't know whether you are -- you're already prepared for a writer that people dismiss with nonsense like "Mr. Henry James writes fiction as though it were a painful duty" (a typical facile but empty quip from Wilde, the master of facile but empty). The truth is the opposite: James writes as though writing is a joy. He is bursting with a love of words that can indeed be overwhelming. I certainly understand finding him impenetrable, but if you find his style congenial you'll find one of the sharpest observational minds ever to write fiction.

A 19th-century novel you won't find on many lists but that I think you might find fascinating is Charles Robert Maturin's late gothic novel Melmoth the Wanderer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melmoth_the_wanderer).

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

I don't have a problem with ornate or difficult prose in general--I read James when I was also reading William Faulkner and Gene Wolfe--but there was something about James that made me itch. I absolutely loathed The Turn of the Screw when I read it in college, and was so turned off by it that I decided never to read James again.

The admiration in which he is held by readers and writers I respect has, in recent years, made me suspect that this was not necessarily the best decision and that I certainly owe him a second chance.

[washa-way.livejournal.com]

Before you extend that chance, be aware that I'm also a fan of Faulkner and Wolfe, but James turns me off completely. I read "The Beast in the Jungle" in grad school and felt it was a ten-page story (with an obvious twist) extended to thirty pages through the magic of repetition, hesitation, and abstraction.

But don't take my word for it. Take a look at Virginia Woolf's parodic account of meeting James for tea:

"Henry James fixed me with his staring blank eye--it is like a child's marble--and said “My dear Virginia, they tell me-- they tell me -- they tell me-- that you-- as indeed being your father's daughter, nay your grandfather's grandchild-- the descendant, I may say, of a century-- of a century-– of quill pens and ink-- ink-- ink-pots, yes, yes, yes, they tell me-– ahm m m-- that you, that you, that you write in short.”

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

Dude, the fact that writer is easily parodied is not evidence that the writer isn't great. In fact, many (most? all?) great writers are *more* easily parodied than mediocre writers.

Still, that's cruel *and* funny, which is often a tasty combination.