Happy Birthday, Madame Bovary

April 17, 2017 12:12 PM

10 Debut Novels That Are Also Their Authors’ Masterpieces
posted by infini (26 comments total)

What, no "Devil Wears Prada"? KIDDING
posted by Melismata at 12:31 PM on April 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

I would maybe put Carrie up there, too. If not King's "masterpiece" it is definitely among his best and doesn't suffer from (some of) the flaws of his more popular books.
posted by paulcole at 12:42 PM on April 17, 2017 [3 favorites]

As a companion piece, here's Pride and Prejudice and progress: the best second novels of all time by James Reith.
posted by Kattullus at 12:50 PM on April 17, 2017

Though Flaubert would go on to write several more books, including the well-regarded Sentimental Education, he would never top his initial effort—Madame Bovary is universally acknowledged as Flaubert’s masterpiece, and indeed as one of the greatest novels ever written.

This is ignorant bullshit—plenty of people think Sentimental Education is Flaubert’s masterpiece. In fact, a moment's googling gets me: "To read Flaubert's masterpiece, Sentimental Education (1869), is to understand the atmosphere in which the first phase of Romanticism ended..." So I'm not going to pay much attention to what this person thinks.
posted by languagehat at 1:48 PM on April 17, 2017 [2 favorites]

Although Dog Years couldn't exist without The Tin Drum, I personally feel it's the better of the two books, just ever so slightly. But I'm kind of a weirdo about stuff, & am maybe just sentimental about where & when I read it.
posted by Devils Rancher at 1:53 PM on April 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

I immediately thought The Catcher in the Rye, but I guess that’s the only novel Salinger ever wrote. Still, it was his first book. (Haven’t read it for maybe 50 years, but at the time, anyway, I thought it was pretty good.)
posted by LeLiLo at 1:57 PM on April 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

Lanark by Alasdair Gray is the first one that comes to mind. Gray (and I) prefer his second novel 1982 Janine, but Lanark seems to be the consensus favorite.
posted by doubtfulpalace at 1:58 PM on April 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

Masterpieces according to whom?
posted by francesca too at 2:53 PM on April 17, 2017

Emily Temple. Her name's at the bottom of the article.
posted by biffa at 3:14 PM on April 17, 2017 [8 favorites]

This is ignorant bullshit—plenty of people think Sentimental Education is Flaubert’s masterpiece. In fact, a moment's googling gets me: "To read Flaubert's masterpiece, Sentimental Education (1869), is to understand the atmosphere in which the first phase of Romanticism ended..." So I'm not going to pay much attention to what this person thinks.

I think both "Madame Bovary" and "Sentimental Education" are both great, yet I recently met a guy who, when the subject of Flaubert came up, scowled, folded his arms, and declared that "Salammbo" was Flaubert's masterpiece. The fact that he totally disagreed with me made me pay much more attention to him.
posted by Modest House at 4:29 PM on April 17, 2017

You'd have to add Invisible Man by Ellison to this list.
posted by smoke at 5:01 PM on April 17, 2017

I'm surprised Autobiography by Morrissey did not make the list.



I'm so sorry.
posted by 4ster at 5:08 PM on April 17, 2017

Invisible Man was Ellison's only novel published in his lifetime.
posted by praemunire at 6:07 PM on April 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'd include Confederacy of Dunces
posted by TedW at 7:24 PM on April 17, 2017 [2 favorites]

There have always been Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm.
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 8:12 PM on April 17, 2017 [5 favorites]

I'm surprised Autobiography by Morrissey did not make the list.

Seriously, the whole notion reminds me of the First Album Problem, in which a songwriter's first album is far and away their best.

It's usually explained as "well, they had ten or twenty years to write their first album. After that album was a hit, the record company gave them six months to write another, and the results are what you'd expect."

Not sure if it's the same for novelists, but it seems at least similar.
posted by rokusan at 8:53 PM on April 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

I liked Salammbô.
posted by ovvl at 9:07 PM on April 17, 2017

I immediately thought The Catcher in the Rye, but I guess that’s the only novel Salinger ever wrote. Still, it was his first book.

Similarly, I thought of To Kill a Mockingbird.
posted by explosion at 9:47 PM on April 17, 2017

Joseph Heller, Catch-22.

Often told that he'd never written another book as good as his first, Joe routinely replied, "Who has?"
posted by octobersurprise at 8:49 AM on April 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

Can't figure out what she's talking about re Donna Tartt. The Goldfinch won the Pulitzer, which Secret History came nowhere near--I think that in itself is enough. Certainly made me look at the article date to see if it was old, if nothing else.
posted by dlugoczaj at 9:54 AM on April 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

The Recognitions by William Gaddis.
posted by chavenet at 9:59 AM on April 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

Kattullus: "As a companion piece, here's Pride and Prejudice and progress: the best second novels of all time by James Reith."

J R by William Gaddis.
posted by chavenet at 10:00 AM on April 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

It's usually explained as "well, they had ten or twenty years to write their first album..."

Yes, I like this idea for novelists, too. Have you seen Heller's spreadsheet for Catch-22?
posted by Bron at 2:12 PM on April 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

Along with the aforementioned Confederacy of Dunces and Cold Comfort Farm; I would also add Pickwick Papers. I have always thought the young, breezy, funny, picaresque Dickens is the best Dickens.
posted by indianbadger1 at 2:12 PM on April 18, 2017

I agree with Temple 100% on A Secret History. It is perhaps the best book I have ever read and my spouse feels about the same. At the time I read it just after it was published I found it mesmerizing.
posted by bz at 3:35 PM on April 18, 2017

Postman Always Rings Twice by James M Cain
posted by dobbs at 8:41 PM on April 18, 2017