Reading the 20th Century discussion
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June 2026 -> Nomination thread
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I would like to nominate Transit by Anna Seghers which was first published in 1944. Margot Bettauer Dembo's translation was nominated for a PEN Translation award in 2014.Emmeline has mentioned it a few times in our conversations at 21CL and I'd love to read it here at RTTC.
From NYRB's website:
"Anna Seghers’s Transit is an existential, political, literary thriller that explores the agonies of boredom, the vitality of storytelling, and the plight of the exile with extraordinary compassion and insight"
I'm going with The Snake Pit by Mary Jane Ward, first published in 1946.
From https://www.loa.org/books/655-the-sna...
"Do you hear voices? Virginia Stuart Cunningham, a journalist and novelist with a wicked sense of humor, is sitting on a park bench waiting for her husband when an intrusive stranger begins to pester her with nonsensical questions. Is he mad? Or is she? So begins this brilliant literary exploration of mental illness, a novel that asks us to reconsider what counts as sanity in a crazy world.
Suffering a breakdown in 1941, thirty-five-year-old novelist Mary Jane Ward was diagnosed, or perhaps misdiagnosed, with schizophrenia and committed to a psychiatric hospital in upstate New York. From that horrific experience came this gripping story. Inspiration for the 1948 film starring Olivia de Havilland, The Snake Pit sparked important investigative journalism and state legislation to reform the care and treatment of people with mental illness."
There was a 75 year anniversary edition, so it may not be too hard to find, but it is also available on Internet Archive.
An amazing start for June wild card nomination Beige and Kathleen.
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I nominate No Exit and Three Other Plays by Jean-Paul Sartre. All four plays were written in the 1940's though my main interest is in No Exit and I'm going to seek the Paul Bowles translation for the play.
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I'm going to nominate The Member of the Wedding (1946) by Carson McCullers:
Twelve-year-old tomboy Frankie is hopelessly bored with her life until she hears about her older brother's upcoming wedding. Bolstered with lively conversations with the family maid, Berenice, and her own unbridled imagination, Frankie decides to take a very active role in the wedding. She plays out her fantasies about the event and even hopes to go, uninvited, on the honeymoon, so deep is her desire to become part of something larger than herself. With perception, humour and pathos, Carson McCullers shows a girl torn between the yearning to belong and the urge to run away.
"A marvelous study of the agony of adolescence" (Detroit Free Press), The Member of the Wedding showcases Carson McCullers at her most sensitive, astute, and lasting best.
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The Tartar Steppe
aka The Stronghold
by
Dino Buzzati (1940):
A surrealist masterpiece about a soldier stationed at a remote outpost waiting for an enemy that never comes. It’s a profound look at how we waste our lives waiting for "greatness"
Only a couple of hundred pages so a quick and easy read
Often likened to Kafka's The Castle, The Tartar Steppe is both a scathing critique of military life and a meditation on the human thirst for glory. It tells of young Giovanni Drogo, who is posted to a distant fort overlooking the vast Tartar steppe. Although not intending to stay, Giovanni suddenly finds that years have passed, as, almost without his noticing, he has come to share the others' wait for a foreign invasion that never happens. Over time the fort is downgraded and Giovanni's ambitions fadeuntil the day the enemy begins massing on the desolate steppe
I want to nominate: Great Eastern Hotel: Winner of the Crossword Book Jury Award for Fiction 2025 by Ruchir JoshiA rich, teeming, involving epic of war, famine, love and culture-clash in imperial Calcutta during World War Two, Joshi is The brand new experience after a megashow, Russian in size, Indian in soul' (India Today).
This book is a brilliant prospect, promising a rich, teeming, involving tale with an unusual, fascinating setting: the fading imperial city of Calcutta in the 1940s, with world war, famine, culture-clash, colonial retreat, exile, rebellion, idealism and religious strife all in the mix.
Mod
Thanks for all the fab suggestions
Nominations so far...
Transit by Anna Seghers
No Exit and Three Other Plays by Jean-Paul Sartre
The Member of the Wedding (1946) by Carson McCullers
The Tartar Steppe (aka The Stronghold) (1940) by Dino Buzzati
Great Eastern Hotel: Winner of the Crossword Book Jury Award for Fiction 2025 by Ruchir Joshi
The poll will go up on Tuesday 31st March 2026
I could be interested in many of those, but because I have this book already lying around and wanting to be read, I'll nominate Alone in Berlin, alternatively translated as Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada.
"This disturbing novel, written in 24 days by a German writer who died in 1947, is inspired by the true story of Otto and Elise Hampel, who scattered postcards advocating civil disobedience throughout war-time Nazi-controlled Berlin."
I'll nominate Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent 1934-1941 by William L. Shirer. Shirer's personal account of life in Nazi Germany. Published in 1941.
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That Hans Fallada novel is fantastic. I devoured all his stuff when it was rediscovered around 2010, along with a helpful biography of his life and times.
Nominations so far...
Transit by Anna Seghers
No Exit and Three Other Plays by Jean-Paul Sartre
The Member of the Wedding (1946) by Carson McCullers
The Tartar Steppe (aka The Stronghold) (1940) by Dino Buzzati
Great Eastern Hotel: Winner of the Crossword Book Jury Award for Fiction 2025 by Ruchir Joshi
Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada
Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent 1934-1941 by William L. Shirer
The poll will go up on Tuesday 31st March 2026
I’m not going to nominate this month because there are already 2 books I want to (re)read, and 2 that I should read on the list.
I also won't nominate, because I may not have finished my Proust immersion by June.
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How are you getting on with Proust? Do feel free to post on the Proust threads if you fancy reviving the chat.
We have an embarrassment of riches to choose from this month, so it's hardly needed, but you didn't include my nomination of The Snake Pit in the list, Nigeyb. 😊
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I’ll put that right straight away
Mod
Transit by Anna Seghers
The Snake Pit by Mary Jane Ward
No Exit and Three Other Plays by Jean-Paul Sartre
The Member of the Wedding (1946) by Carson McCullers
The Tartar Steppe (aka The Stronghold) (1940) by Dino Buzzati
Great Eastern Hotel: Winner of the Crossword Book Jury Award for Fiction 2025 by Ruchir Joshi
Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada
Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent 1934-1941 by William L. Shirer
The poll will go up on Tuesday 31st March 2026
Roman Clodia wrote: "Blaine wrote: "I also won't nominate, because I may not have finished my Proust immersion by June."How are you getting on with Proust? Do feel free to post on the Proust threads if you fancy revi..."
Just about finished with Book 3. I will post some thoughts once I finish
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Nigeyb wrote: "Thanks for pointing that out Kathleen. Totally unintentionalI’ll put that right straight away"
Thanks, Nigeyb!
And I agree--so many of these I'd like to read. The only one I've read is The Member of the Wedding, and it's my favorite McCullers so far, one I'd be tempted to re-read.
Reading the 20th Century
Books mentioned in this topic
The Snake Pit (other topics)Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent 1934-1941 (other topics)
Alone in Berlin (other topics)
Every Man Dies Alone (other topics)
Great Eastern Hotel: Winner of the Crossword Book Jury Award for Fiction 2025 (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
William L. Shirer (other topics)Ruchir Joshi (other topics)
Dino Buzzati (other topics)
Carson McCullers (other topics)
Jean-Paul Sartre (other topics)
More...
As you already know, for our June 2026 group read we invite you to nominate anything written in, or set in, the 1940s
Please supply the title, author, a brief synopsis, and anything else you'd like to mention about the book, and why you think it might make a good book to discuss.
The poll will go up on Tuesday 31st March 2026 - so plenty of time to get a nomination in
Happy nominating