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20th & 21st Century Literature

The secularization of culture happened as soon as Adam was thrown from the Garden for eating forbidden fruit. He had sinned, and cut off from direct union with God human civilization became a largely irreligious affair—Christians have been trying ever since to increase their influence in the arts, politics, academics and the popular sphere.

To hear a lot of modern apologists, however, you'd think the shift away from historical Christianity to worldly attitudes was recent. Some look back as far as the Enlightenment, some as little as thirty or forty years ago, showing how political and moral trends evidence the departure. For them, the real bad guys are Charles Darwin, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, sometimes even Soren Kierkegaard (one of the really great Christian writers of the last 200 years).

While those outside the Christian tradition could perhaps be forgiven such shortsightedness (intent on tracing Modern Progress as they are), for Christians to share these views is unforgivable. Western civilization can be traced to ancient Greece, and before that to Egypt, two of the most pagan and corrupt cultures of all time. The ideas popular now have their roots in the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, Democritus and Thales.

Every modern philosophy has a Classical era corollary, if not its direct match at least the primitive form of the current idea. Anaximander suggested men evolved from animals 2500 years before Charlie Darwin was born; Heraclitus posited rudimentary postmodern philosophy two millennia before the advent of modernism; Diogenes was a nihilist before the nation of Russia existed, and about 300 years before Christ.

The best way to understand 20th century literature is not as a brand-new canon promoting recent anti-Christian thought, but as a body of work manifesting the newest iterations of secular philosophy and Christian responses. Great writers of the past, from Shelley and Robert Louis Stevenson to Rabelais and George Eliot, were fully as secular (even atheistic) as any Hemingway, Camus or Douglas Adams of the last 100 years.

Just as secular—and in many instances, just as brilliant. While there's more bad writing available than ever before as a result of the democratization of publishing, for every Stephanie Meyer there's at least one Faulkner or Annie Dillard. The novel came into its own in the 20th century as writers understood its limitations. Good writers have something universal to say about humanity, avoiding merely regional or too-specific interests.

Not all of it is "fun" reading—some of the best writers like Kafka, Thomas Mann and Solzhenitsyn can be hard to get through, though they can also write riveting passages of elegant prose. Others are a joy to read, like Steinbeck, G.K. Chesterton and George Bernard Shaw, combining a talent for poetic narrative and humor reminiscent of Dickens and Twain.

Like the ideas it embraces, the purpose of 20th century literature remains the same as the literature of any other era: to examine life, to celebrate it, to understand it better, and to connect readers with each other and with new ideas. Of course you'll want to be aware when you're reading secular authors and examine their work closely, but the same is true of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography or Virgil's Aeneid.

Most of all, enjoy these books. The best of them explore deep and important ideas, but the best of them are also great artistic achievements, not mere dissertations but independent organisms alive and dangerous and beautiful. For all the technology and machines of our modern age, good literature is still organic, and the ability to enjoy it comes from an unmapped region of the soul where every Kerouac, Cather and Marquez had to go for their masterpieces.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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Active Filters: 9th grade (Ages 14-15), Trade Paperback, New Books & Materials
84, Charing Cross Road
by Helene Hanff
from Penguin Random House
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.00
And the Ocean Was Our Sky
by Patrick Ness
from HarperTeen
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$19.99
And Then There Were None
by Agatha Christie
75th Anniversary from HarperCollins
Murder Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
Animal Farm
by George Orwell
from Plume Books
Utopian/Dystopian Literature for 6th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.00
Beate Not the Poore Desk
by Walter Wangerin
1st edition from Rabbit Room Press
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.99
Beautiful Thread
Hawk and the Dove Series #8
by Penelope Wilcock
from Lion Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.99
Black Like Me
by John Howard Griffin & Robert Bonazzi
35th anniversary from Signet Classics
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Body in the Library
A Miss Marple Mystery #2
by Agatha Christie
2022 Reissue from William Morrow & Company
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
Boys in the Boat adapted for Young Readers
by Daniel James Brown, adapted by Gregory Mone
from Penguin Putnam
for 6th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$11.99
Breath of Peace
Hawk and the Dove Series #7
by Penelope Wilcock
from Lion Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.99
Bridge of San Luis Rey
by Thornton Wilder
from HarperCollins
for 9th-Adult
1928 Pulitzer Prize Winner
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.99
Busman's Honeymoon (11)
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 11
by Dorothy L. Sayers
Reprint from HarperCollins
Murder Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
C. S. Lewis: The Signature Classics Boxed Set
by C. S. Lewis
Box from HarperOne
for 9th-Adult
in Boxed Sets & Literature Packages (Location: FIC-BOX)
$120.00
Caribbean Mystery
A Miss Marple Mystery #9
by Agatha Christie
from William Morrow & Company
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.99
Children of Hurin
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Chosen
by Chaim Potok
from Simon and Schuster
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.00
Clouds of Witness (2)
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 2
by Dorothy Sayers
Reissue from HarperCollins
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Code of the Woosters
by P. G. Wodehouse
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Humor for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.95
Common Sense 101
by Dale Ahlquist
from Ignatius Press
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.16
Complete Father Brown Stories
by G. K. Chesterton
from Wordsworth Classics
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.39
Complete Tolkien Companion
by J.R.R. Tolkien & J.E.A. Tyler
3rd edition from St. Martin's Griffin
Lord of the Rings Reference for 8th-Adult
in Lord of the Rings (Location: LIR-LOTR)
$27.00
Coraline
by Neil Gaiman
from William Morrow & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$16.99
Curtain: Poirot's Last Case
A Hercule Poirot Mystery #39
by Agatha Christie
2011 Reprint from William Morrow & Company
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$13.99
Daughter of Time
by Josephine Tey
1st edition from Touchstone
for 7th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.00
Death Comes for the Archbishop
by Willa Cather
from Vintage Classics
Realistic Fiction for 9th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.00
Death on the Nile
A Hercule Poirot Mystery #17
by Agatha Christie
from HarperCollins
Mystery & Suspense for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Discarded Image
by C. S. Lewis
from Cambridge University
Medieval and Renaissance Lit Guide/Resource for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$19.99
Dorothy L. Sayers: The Complete Stories
by Dorothy L. Sayers
from Harper & Row
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$19.99
Egg and I
by Betty MacDonald
from HarperCollins
Biography for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.99
Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters
by Mark Dunn
Reprint from Anchor Books
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.95
Endless Knot
Song of Albion #3
by Stephen R. Lawhead
2nd edition from Thomas Nelson Publishers
Celtic Fantasy for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.00
Enter Jeeves
by P. G. Wodehouse
from Dover Publications
Humor for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.95
Experiment in Criticism
by C. S. Lewis
Reissue from Cambridge University
Literature Guide/Resource for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$19.99
Father Brown Stories Part II
by G. K. Chesterton
from Ignatius Press
Mystery for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$23.50
Fellowship of the Ring
Lord of the Rings Trilogy #1
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 8th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Five Red Herrings (6)
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 6
by Dorothy Sayers
from HarperCollins
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Flames of Rome
by Paul L. Maier
2nd edition from Kregel Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.99 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Four Loves
Reissue from HarperOne
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Four Quartets
by T. S. Eliot
from Harcourt
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.99
Gaudy Night (10)
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 10
by Dorothy L. Sayers
Reissue from HarperCollins
Murder Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
George MacDonald
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperCollins
Devotional Material for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$13.99
God in the Dock
by C. S. Lewis
from Eerdmans
Religion/Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.00
Great Divorce
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperCollins
Allegory for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Great Escape
by Paul Brickhill
Reissue from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.95
Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Reissue from Charles Scribner's Sons
Realistic Fiction for 9th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.00
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
by Mary Ann Shaffer
from Sun Dial Press
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.00
Hardest Thing to Do
Hawk and the Dove Series #4
by Penelope Wilcock
3rd Revised edition from Lion Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.99
Harvey
by Mary Chase
from CreateSpace
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.99
Hawk and the Dove
Hawk and the Dove Series #1
by Penelope Wilcock
3rd Revised edition from Lion Publishing
for 6th-9th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$13.99
Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad
from Modern Library
Realistic Modern Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$11.00
Hero Born
by Jin Yong, translated by Anna Holmwood
from St. Martin's Griffin
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
Hobbit
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 5th-9th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$13.99
Hobbit
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 5th-9th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Hobbit & Lord of the Rings - Softbound Boxed Set
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 4th-12th grade
in Boxed Sets & Literature Packages (Location: FIC-BOX)
$72.00
Hood
The King Raven Trilogy Book 1
by Stephen R. Lawhead
First Edition from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
Hour Before Dawn
Hawk and the Dove Series #5
by Penelope Wilcock
from Lion Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.99
House of the Scorpion
by Nancy Farmer
Reprint from Atheneum
for 8th-Adult
2003 Newbery Honor Book; 2003 National Book Award for Young People's Literature
in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI)
$12.99 $7.00 (1 in stock)
How Right You Are, Jeeves
by P. G. Wodehouse
from Touchstone
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.99
If The South Had Won The Civil War
by MacKinlay Kantor
from Forge
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.99
In Defense of Sanity: The Best Essays of G.K. Chesterton
by G. K. Chesterton
Standard print edition from Ignatius Press
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.96
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
by Susanna Clarke
from Bloomsbury Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$19.99
Leave it to Psmith
by P. G. Wodehouse
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Humor for 7th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.95
Letters to Children
by C. S. Lewis
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Autobiographical Letters for 3rd-9th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$16.00
Little Prince
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
from Harvest House
Fantasy for 3rd-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$11.99 $7.50 (2 in stock)
Lobscouse and Spotted Dog
by Anne Grossman & Lisa Grossman Thomas
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Cookbook for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.11
Long Fall
Hawk and the Dove Series #3
by Penelope Wilcock
3rd Revised edition from Lion Publishing
for 6th-9th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$13.99
Lord God Made Them All
by James Herriot
from St. Martin's Press
for 7th-Adult
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$17.99
Lord of Light
by Roger Zelazny
from HarperCollins
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$13.99
Lord Peter
by Dorothy Sayers
Reprint from Harper & Row
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
Major and the Missionary
by Warren Hamilton Lewis, Blanche Briggs; edited by Diana Pavlac Glyer
from Rabbit Room Press
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.00
Mein Kampf
by Adolf Hitler, translated by Michael Ford
from Elite Minds, Inc.
Autobiography for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$29.95
Mere Christianity
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperCollins
Religion/Philosophy for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Miracle Worker
by William Gibson
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$13.99
Miracles
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperCollins
Religion/Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Monster Calls
by Patrick Ness, illustrated by Jim Kay
Reprint from Candlewick Press
for 5th-Adult
2012 Carnegie Medal
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.00
Morbid Taste for Bones
Brother Cadfael
by Ellis Peters
Reissue from Mysterious Press
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.99
Mutiny on the Bounty
by Charles Nordhoff & James Normal Hall
from Little, Brown & Company
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
Narrative Poems
by C. S. Lewis
Reprint from HarperOne
Narrative Poetry for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.99
Never Sniff A Gift Fish
by Patrick F. McManus
from Henry Holt and Company
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Nine Tailors (9)
A Lord Peter Mystery, Book 9
by Dorothy Sayers
from Harcourt
Murder Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.99
Of Other Worlds
by C. S. Lewis
Reissue from HarperOne
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$13.99
Old Man and the Sea
by Ernest Hemingway
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$13.99
One Corpse Too Many
Brother Cadfael
by Ellis Peters
Reissue from Mysterious Press
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.99
Out of the Silent Planet
Space Trilogy Book 1
by C. S. Lewis
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Allegorical Science Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.00
Parnassus On Wheels and The Haunted Bookshop
by Christopher Morley
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.95
Perelandra
Space Trilogy Book 2
by C. S. Lewis
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Allegorical Science Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Persuasions
by Doug Wilson
from Canon Press
for 9th-Adult
in Beginning Christian Apologetics (Location: XAP-BEG)
$12.00
Phantom of the Opera
by Gaston Leroux
from Bantam Books
Mystery/Horror for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$5.95
Pilgrim's Regress
by C. S. Lewis
Reissue from Eerdmans
Allegory for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Place of the Lion
by Charles Williams
from Regent College
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$19.99
Poems
by C. S. Lewis
Reissue from HarperOne
Lyrical Poetry for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$13.99
Poetry of Robert Frost
by Robert Frost
2nd edition from Holt McDougal
for 9th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$21.00
Problem of Pain
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperCollins
Religion/Philosophy for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Rabble in Arms
by Kenneth Roberts
from Down East Books
for 7th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$18.95
Red House Mystery
by A. A. Milne
from Bob Jones University Press
Mystery/Suspense for 7th-10th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.99
Reflections on the Psalms
by C. S. Lewis
Reprint from HarperOne
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$15.99
Remember Me
Hawk and the Dove Series #6
by Penelope Wilcock
3rd Revised edition from Lion Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.99
Return of the King
Lord of the Rings Trilogy #3
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 8th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$17.99
Riders of the Purple Sage
by Zane Grey
from Dover Publications
Westerns for 8th-Adult
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$6.00
Right Ho, Jeeves
by P. G. Wodehouse
Reprint from W. W. Norton and Co.
Humor for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$13.95
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