Lookback: a pair of lists

From 2009:

Mr. Elegant Variation has posted a list by James Wood of what he regards as the best British and American writing since 1945. The list was drawn up in 1994 and consists in the main of books published prior to 1985 that (in Wood’s words) “seemed to me deep and beautiful, which aerate the soul and abrase the conscience.” It includes no biographies or plays–he claims to be ignorant of the theater–and, save for certain of George Orwell’s articles, no non-literary journalism. Wood’s list contains one hundred and twenty-six books. Rather than shooting at fish or picking at nits, I thought it might be fun and interesting for me to name the sixteen books on Wood’s list that would also appear on mine….

Read the whole thing here.