Saturday, February 19, 2011  Review of the Day: 99 Novels   It
was the arrival of 1984 (the year, not the book) that inspired
Burgess to compile a list of what he considered to be the 99
best novels published since 1939. He explains his inspiration in
the introduction:  For thirty-five years a mere novel, an
artifact meant primarily for diversion, has been scaring the
pants off us all. Evidently the novel is a powerful literary
form which is capable of reaching out into the real world and
modifying it. It is a form which even the non-literary had
better take seriously.  Why he chose to include only books
published since 1939 is a little less clear. Burgess says only
that "it is more poetic to begin with the beginning of a world
war and to end with the non-fulfillment of a nightmare." His
book choices, like his timeframe, are his alone. He chose books
that brought him reading pleasure, but also "concentrated mainly
on works which have brought something new – in technique or view
of the world – to the form."  E