Tropisms
Nathalie Sarraute · Postwar · Novel / criticism
Canon tier guide
Modern revised canon
Explore 65 works associated with Modern revised canon in The Western Canon. This page is generated from reviewed catalog classifications and links directly to each featured work.
Featured works
The Naked and the Dead
Norman Mailer · Postwar · Novel / reportage
Selected Poems
Ingeborg Bachmann · Postwar · Poetry / fiction
Lucky Jim
Kingsley Amis · Postwar · Novel / satire
Under the Net
Iris Murdoch · Postwar · Novel / philosophy
The Age of Suspicion
Nathalie Sarraute · Postwar · Novel / criticism
Jealousy
Alain Robbe-Grillet · Postwar · Novel
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Truman Capote · Postwar · Fiction / reportage
Memento Mori
Muriel Spark · Postwar · Novel
Billiards at Half-Past Nine
Heinrich Böll · Postwar · Novel
Solaris
Stanislaw Lem · Postwar · Science fiction
Mother Night
Kurt Vonnegut · Postwar · Novel / satire
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Muriel Spark · Postwar · Novel
A House for Mr Biswas
V. S. Naipaul · Postcolonial · Novel / travel writing
Cat and Mouse
Günter Grass · Postwar · Novel
The Man in the High Castle
Philip K. Dick · Postwar · Science fiction
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Ken Kesey · Postwar · Novel
A Clockwork Orange
Anthony Burgess · Postwar · Novel
Cat’s Cradle
Kurt Vonnegut · Postwar · Novel / satire
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
John le Carré · Contemporary · Spy fiction
The Ravishing of Lol Stein
Marguerite Duras · Postwar · Novel / memoir
Dune
Frank Herbert · Postwar · Science fiction
The Cyberiad
Stanislaw Lem · Postwar · Science fiction
The Magus
John Fowles · Postwar · Novel
Things
Georges Perec · Postwar · Novel / experimental writing
Closely Watched Trains
Bohumil Hrabal · Postwar · Novel
Babel-17
Samuel R. Delany · Contemporary · Science fiction
In Cold Blood
Truman Capote · Postwar · Fiction / reportage
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Tom Stoppard · Contemporary · Drama
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Philip K. Dick · Postwar · Science fiction
The Armies of the Night
Norman Mailer · Postwar · Novel / reportage
Ubik
Philip K. Dick · Postwar · Science fiction
The French Lieutenant’s Woman
John Fowles · Postwar · Novel
The Sovereignty of Good
Iris Murdoch · Postwar · Novel / philosophy
The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick
Peter Handke · Contemporary · Novel / drama
Malina
Ingeborg Bachmann · Postwar · Poetry / fiction
Invisible Cities
Italo Calvino · Postwar · Fiction
A Sorrow Beyond Dreams
Peter Handke · Contemporary · Novel / drama
Breakfast of Champions
Kurt Vonnegut · Postwar · Novel / satire
Something Happened
Joseph Heller · Postwar · Novel / satire
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
John le Carré · Contemporary · Spy fiction
The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum
Heinrich Böll · Postwar · Novel
Dhalgren
Samuel R. Delany · Contemporary · Science fiction
Correction
Thomas Bernhard · Contemporary · Novel / drama
Fatelessness
Imre Kertész · Postwar · Novel
Patterns of Childhood
Christa Wolf · Postwar · Novel / essays
Too Loud a Solitude
Bohumil Hrabal · Postwar · Novel
The Sea, the Sea
Iris Murdoch · Postwar · Novel / philosophy
Missing Person
Patrick Modiano · Contemporary · Novel
Kindred
Octavia E. Butler · Contemporary · Speculative fiction
A Bend in the River
V. S. Naipaul · Postcolonial · Novel / travel writing
Earthly Powers
Anthony Burgess · Postwar · Novel
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
August Wilson · Contemporary · Drama
Cassandra
Christa Wolf · Postwar · Novel / essays
The Lover
Marguerite Duras · Postwar · Novel / memoir
Woodcutters
Thomas Bernhard · Contemporary · Novel / drama
Fences
August Wilson · Contemporary · Drama
A Perfect Spy
John le Carré · Contemporary · Spy fiction
Dawn
Octavia E. Butler · Contemporary · Speculative fiction
The Enigma of Arrival
V. S. Naipaul · Postcolonial · Novel / travel writing
This topic contains 65 cataloged works. Use the interactive catalog to search and filter the complete collection.
Beyond the obvious canon
What is the Modern Revised Canon?
This tier highlights works that help revise or complicate the inherited picture of the Canon. It is a useful destination for readers looking for overlooked canonical books, less-obvious classics, or what some searches describe informally as an “underground canon.”
There is no fixed historical category called the underground canon. Use this tier alongside the Expanded Canon and the complete Western Canon list.