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I'm working on Episode 3 of The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast, and it will be devoted to a particular year in literature.

First, I'm curious what years you all consider significant landmark years in books. Second, I'm curious whether anyone feels the same way I do about the year I chose. To me, it seems obvious it's one of the most significant years of literature ever, but I'm a bit biased perhaps.

So please set your claim. What are some great years in books, and, more importantly, why?

I'll let you know the year I'm working on (have been doing so for a month or so) in a later post.

I want to guess.

Is it in the 1920s?

Ctb wrote: "Don't tell us yet. I want to guess. I think I can get close."

Trevor, Ctb, I don't have a clue, no idea whatsoever. I can't even guess.

Ctb, you apparently know me well. It sure is.

Trevor wrote: "Ctb, you apparently know me well. It sure is."

1920s. Modernism. Loved it all

But which is the landmark year?

Also, even if you guess (and it looks like it will be guessed soon), I'd love to hear other candidates.

1922 - Wasteland, Ulysses, Jacob's Room, Proust etc

Is there another year -- in all of literature -- as towering? I cannot think of one. And that you narrowed it down and guessed it in one go makes me think it's obvious to most.

My episode will focus on Ulysses, Jacob's Room, and The Wasteland, though I'm going to talk about how it was also the year the English-speaking world got the first volume of Proust's masterpiece (which I haven't finished . . . . . ). I have read the other three, though, more than once.

My episode won't be an in-depth discussion of any of them (how could it be?), but I hope it's a fun look at this fascinating year.

But . . . now that you've figured it out, I'd like to see what else there is.

1798 seems to come up a lot, but mostly because of Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads. That's definitely a landmark work of literature, and so 1798 is a landmark year, but I'm especially curious about other years with multiple major works.

1925 is a contender, with The Great Gatsby, Mrs. Dalloway, and An American Tragedy, but of those, as famous as The Great Gatsby is and as much as I love it, the only one I'd consider transformative is Mrs. Dalloway.

Something in the 1930s? Lots of movement to socialism.

Or perhaps in the 18th century - the age of satire.

How about 1991? - American Psycho, Generation X, Mao II, Wild Swans - I see it as a resurgence in literature that criticises society, then the following year Donna Tartt's The Secret History came out.

My memory for dates isn't up to this! I agree that 1922 looks pretty tough to beat, particularly if innovation is the main criterion.

Yeh. 1922 really was the beginning of a new lterary age. The only other big one I can think of is "The Auden Generation".

Trevor - you really should read the Goldsmiths and Republic of Consciousness (the UK's two best literary prizes) featured Playing Possum, set in 1922.

How about 1605 - King Lear first written it is believed and Don Quixote published. Arguably (let the arguments begin!) the two greatest works of Western literature.

...or 1759, Tristam Shandy and Candide

Fans of Russian literature could make a case for 1869 (War and Peace and The Idiot)...

I sense a vote - we have contenders from the 1600s, 1700s, 1800s and 1900s now.

Just need a champion from the 2000 to take them on. 2017 "the year of Reservoir 13" probably doesn't cut it yet (it will one day).

2001? - Austerlitz published and translated into English, Sebald then tragically dies. McEwan's Atonement. The Corrections. Artemis Fowl. Life of Pi (oh!).

Paul wrote: "I sense a vote - we have contenders from the 1600s, 1700s, 1800s and 1900s now.

Just need a champion from the 2000 to take them on. 2017 "the year of Reservoir 13" probably doesn't cut it yet (it..."


I refuse to have anything to do with "Atonement"

2007, launch of Kindle Direct Publishing?
It is a landmark, but then so is the Nova Victoria Building.

Trevor wrote: "Ctb, you apparently know me well. It sure is."

Two Mookse Madnesses.

Cordelia wrote: "1922 - Wasteland, Ulysses, Jacob's Room, Proust etc"

Dang it, Cordelia, you got it. That's what I get for testing the waters rather than diving in. I assumed the year was some ungodly modernist nexus with Woolf and Joyce as the primary archetypes because I didn't see as much love for Lawrence, Proust, etal. in Trevor's Books.

Ha, yeah. I do NOT like Lawrence!

Some of these years from the earlier centuries are strong contenders for sure! I’m excited to see more!