TIME (July 10th, 2006) contemplated which writers were (and which contemporary writers might become) the "voice of a generation" ... then concludes that the voice of a generation is not necessarily the best writer of a generation. TIME writer Lev Grossman also acknowleges that the "list" is largely populated by Western White Guys. Still, it's an interesting list ...
1925 F Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
1926 Ernest Hemingway - The Sun Also Rises
1951 JD Salinger - The Catcher in the Rye
1957 Jack Kerouac - On the Road
1961 Joseph Heller - Catch-22
1969 Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse-Five
1984 Jay McInerney - Bright Lights, Big City
1985 Bret Easton Ellis - Less Than Zero
1991 Douglas Coupland - Generation X
Contemporary candidates (40 and younger)
American
Jhumpa Lahiri - The Namesake and her short story collection
Jonathan Safran Foer - Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Colson Whitehead - The Intuitionist
Edwidge Danticat - Breath, Eyes, Memory
Dave Eggers - You Shall Know Our Velocity
Arthur Phillips - Prague
Curtis Sittenfeld - Prep
Myla Goldberg - Bee Season
Nicole Krauss - The History of Love
Gary Shteyngart - Absurdistan
British
Zadie Smith - On Beauty
Monica Ali - Brick Lane
David Mitchell - Black Green Swan
Sam Lipsyte
Kelly Link
