Nineteen novels to understand America

The literary team of The Times (UK) and Sunday Times asked novelists, journalists and US experts to recommend great fiction about America.

I.S. Berry's entry on the list:

Ask the Dust by John Fante (1939)

The Great Depression was one of America’s most defining traumas: our proudly capitalist nation had abruptly plunged from its lofty heights and, accordingly, produced a plethora of great literature. Ask the Dust is an exquisitely written swansong for the American dream — of prosperity, success, religious and secular faith. The iconic protagonist Arturo Bandini, a struggling writer in 1930s Los Angeles, falls in love with unstable, aloof Camilla Lopez, ultimately sacrificing his literary aspirations for her. You won’t love Bandini but you’ll feel for him, and the uniquely American existential futility that pervades the story is revealing, haunting, and palpable.

Read about the other books on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue