Fictional Characters, take two

Note: I've been writing this post for about a week. I'm going to publish it even though I haven't thought much about which of the characters I've listed below are actually my favorite. It's been difficult, but enlightening, to remember all of these books and their associated characters. I'll be thinking and writing more about these characters.....For now, I'm really interested in Yossarian from Catch-22, because that is what I am currently reading. Yossarian made the list from The Independent, as did Catch-22 characters Milo Minderbinder and Dunbar.

I am using the recent article from The Independent as a catalyst for thinking more about fictional characters. I first posted about the article a few days ago. Not entirely to my surprise, I also found a reference and commentary about the article on Sean's blog. Furthermore, I've enjoyed reading the comments on Sean's blog and e-mail that I've received from some friends regarding the list and different opinions of it. As part of my multi-year project of reading one particular list of "The Greatest Fiction Books Of All Time", I've wanted to spend more time on character analysis and comparisons. This ongoing discussion and debate has provided the impetus. I have been trying to maintain an additional blog with reviews and thoughts about books that I read, including books from "The List." My recent strategy has been to read a fiction book from the list, then a nonfiction book, followed by another fiction book from the list, etc. until I complete the list. I'm going in alphebetical order. Here are the books I've completed so far, along with the author and a selection of major characters from each:

The Aeneid by Virgil
Aeneis, Dido, Turnus
All Quiet on the Western Front by Eric Maria Remarque
Paul Baumer, Muller, Kantorek, Himmelstoss, Katzcinsky, Kropp, Tjaden
All The King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
Willie Stark (Talos), Jack Burden, Anne Stanton, Adam Stanton, Judge Irwin, Sadie Burke
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Napoleon, Snowball, Old Major, Boxer
As You Like It by William Shakespeare
Rosalind (Ganymede), Orlando, Oliver, Jacques
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Darl Bundren, Jewel Bundren, Addie Bundren, Cash Bundren, Dewey Dell Bundren, Anse Bundren
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Edna Pontellier, Mademoiselle Reisz, Robert Lebrun
Beowulf
Beowulf, Grendel, Grendel's Mother, Hrothgar
Billy Budd by Herman Melville
Billy Budd, Claggart, Captain Vere
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Pecola Breedlove
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
John, Bernard Marx, Helmholtz Watson, Mustapha Mond
Call of the Wild by Jack London
Buck, John Thornton
Candide by Voltaire
Candide, Pangloss, Martin, Cucambo, Cunegonde
Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
The Knight, The Pardoner, The Wife of Bath
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (in progress)
John Yossarian, Milo Minderbinder, Chaplain Tappman

In addition to the above titles from "The List", here are some of my favorite fiction books and associated characters:

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Pierre Bezukhov, Andrew Bolkonski, Natasha Rostova, General Kutuzov
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
"fictionalized" actual historical characters: Gen. Robert E. Lee, Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain, General James Longstreet
Roots by Alex Haley
Kunta Kinte, Chicken George
Rebecca by Daphne de Maurier
the unnamed heroine, Maxim de Winter, Rebecca, Mrs. Danvers
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
John Galt, Dagny Taggart, James Taggart, Hank Reardon, Francisco d'Anconia
Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
Elizabeth Archer, Gilbert Osmond, Madame Merle, Ralph Touchette
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Newland Archer, Countess Ellen Olenska
North and South (trilogy) by John Jakes
Orry Main, George Hazard
The Magician's Nephew (Chronicle's of Narnia series) by C.S. Lewis



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