Here are the novels from which to choose for your final College Comp research paper. You must choose TWO (unless otherwise noted) from the list. Your final research paper will be a comparison of the novels.

1. NCTC College English
Novel Choices
Research Project: Recommended writers and works. Choose TWO to
compare/contrast (unless otherwise noted).
I. American Authors
A. Willa Cather (1873-1947)
*1. O Pioneers! (1913)
2. My Antonia (1918)
3. Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927)
B. William Faulkner (1897-1962)
*1. The Sound and the Fury (1929)
2. As I Lay Dying (1930)
3. Sanctuary (1931)
4. Light in August (1932)
5. Absalom, Absalom (1936)
C. F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)
1. This Side of Paradise (1920)
*2. The Great Gatsby (1925)
3. Tender is the Night (1934)
D. Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)
*1. The Scarlet Letter (1850)
2. The House of the Seven Gables (1851)
E. Ernest Hemingway (1898-1961)
1. The Sun Also Rises (1926)
*2. A Farewell to Arms (1929)
3. For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940)
F. Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951)
*1. Main Street (1920)
2. Babbitt (1922)
3. Arrowsmith (1925)
G. Herman Melville (1819-1891)
*1. Moby Dick (1851)
H. Ole Rolvaag (1876-1931)
*1. Giants in the Earth (1927)
2. Peder Victorious
3. Their Fathers’ God
I. J. D. Salinger (1912- )
*1. Catcher in the Rye (1951)
2. Franny and Zooey (1951)

2. J. John Steinbeck (1902-1964)
1. Of Mice and Men (1937)
*2. The Grapes of Wrath (1939)
3. East of Eden (1952)
K. Mark Twain (1835-1910)
1. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)
*2. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)
L. Nathaniel West (1903-1940)
1. The Dream Life of Balso Snell (1931)
*2. Miss Lonely Hearts (1933)
3. The Day of the Locust (1939)
M. Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938)
*1. Look Homeward, Angel (1929)
2. Of Time and the River (1935)
3. The Web and the Rock (1939)
4. You Can’t Go Home Again (1940)
II. British Authors
A. Bronte Sisters
*1. Jane Eyre (1847) -- Charlotte (18-16-1855)
*2. Wuthering Heights (1847) -- Emily (1818-1848)
B. Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
1. Oliver Twist (1838)
2. David Copperfield (1850)
3. Hard Times (1854)
*4. A Tale of Two Cities (1859)
C. Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)
*1. The Return of the Native (1878)
2. The Mayor of Casterbridge(1886)
3. Tess of the D’Urbervilles (1891)
D. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
1. The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)
2. The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
III. World Authors
A. Feodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) -- Russian
*1. Crime and Punishment (1886)
*2. The Brothers Karamazov (1879-80)
B. Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) -- Russian
*1. War and Peace (1865-69)
2. Anna Karenina (1875-77)

3. C. Victor Hugo(1802-1885) -- French
1. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831)
*2. Les Miserables (1862)
D. William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
*1. Hamlet (1603)
2. King Lear (1605)
3. Macbeth (1606)
IV. Other Topics
A. World War I Novels
1. E. Hemingway (1898-1961) - A Farewell to Arms (1929) --
American
2. E. Remarque - All Quiet on the Western Front (1929) -- German
B. Other War Novels
1. T O’Brien (1946- ) The Things They Carried (1990)
2. J. Heller (1923-1999) Catch-22 (1961)
C. Social Reform
1. Richard Wright (1908-1960)
a. Native Son (1940)
b. Black Boy (1945)
2.
a. U. Sinclair (1878-1968) - The Jungle (1906) -- American
b. J. Steinbeck (1902-1964) - The Grapes of Wrath (1939) --
American
D. Comparison and Contrast
1. Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) Heart of Darkness (1902) –
Polish/British
2. F. S. Fitzgerald (1896-1940) The Great Gatsby (1925) –
American
1. O. Wilde (1854-1900) The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) - British
2. R. L. Stevenson (1850-1894) The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll
and
Mr. Hyde (1886) Scottish/British
1. Shakespeare (1564-1616) King Lear (1623)
2. J. Smiley (19 - ) A Thousand Acres (1991)
V. Here are some additional possibilities
A. Pioneer Novels
1. O Pioneers
2. Giants in the Earth

4. B. Adventure/Coming of Age
1. Catcher in the Rye
2. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
C. Jane Austen (1775-1817)
1. Pride and Prejudice
2. Emma
3. Sense and Sensibility
D. Gender Roles
1. Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) The Bell Jar (1963)
2. Kate Chopin (1850-1904) The Awakening (1899)
VI. Other Possible Authors (Reliable sources my be more difficult to
find on these)
1. J.R.R. Tolkein (The Hobbit / Lord of the Rings)
2. Toni Morrison (The Bluest Eyes / Beloved / Song of Solomon /
Paradise)
3. Virginia Woolf (To the Lighthouse / Mrs. Dalloway)
4. Amy Tan (The Joy Luck Club / The Kitchen God’s Wife)
5. Alice Walker (The Color Purple)
6. George Orwell (1984)
7. Marry W. G. Shelly (Frankenstein)
8. Ken Kesey (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest)
9. Harriet Beecher Stowe (Uncle Tom’s Cabin)