What are the 5 best novels in which Florida itself is a character --
that is, in which Florida is evocatively evoked?

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 13 Dec 2002 13:00 PST

Please define "best novels".

Thank you
tutuzdad-ga

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Clarification of Question by mavis-ga on 15 Dec 2002 08:21 PST

Researcher asks that questioner define "best novels."

Fair enough.  Obviously there is no "right" answer to my question.
"Best" in my question stood for: novels about which a consenus has
formed in "American letters" as to its superior literary merit
(relative, perhaps, to other novels set in Florida or in which Florida
is evocatively evoked.) By "American letters" I mean those few who
speak as if they are well-positioned to identify such a consenus --
examples which come quickly to mind are The New York Times December
choices of the best books of the year (7-10, only 3-4 novels each year
lately), or the Pultizer Prize winners, or the authors and then their
works chosen for inclusion in the ongoing Library of America
publishing venture (which has published superior crime fiction by the
like of Raymond Chandler, I believe, as well as the novels of
"unquestionable" literary merit like "The Great Gadsby" (in which Long
Island is evocatively evoked).

Failing that, "best" can simply mean novels for which strong and
convincing arguments have been made, especially about the extent to
which they evoke a particular Florida time and place.

Thanks.

mavis-ga

Hi there mavis!

Well, I don't know about "best", but certainly an interesting read if
you're into word-play, are the Piers Anthony, "Xanth" series of
novels. And I have to say, what Anthony has done with Florida is
certainly...well... unique.

The Land of Xanth
http://www.favorites.com/~sparky/xanth2map.gif

Nice to see you back by the way ...

-K~

John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee novels have a very vivid Florida
presence, as do the novels of Carl Hiaasen.

I started researching this question and found lots of lists,
especially for “Florida noir” mystery novels. In the process of
reviewing the possibilities, I realized that I had no criteria for
choosing what’s best or most evocative. I’m only familiar with
MacDonald’s Travis McGee novels which I find very evocative of a
Florida era of some years ago. I’ll be happy to share what I’ve found
and leave it to someone else to make the 5 best ranked list. Enjoy!

czh

http://www.outyourbackdoor.com/OYB8/jackmystery.html
A Little Letter from Jack Saunders to a Local Paper About Mystery
Writers--Who's in, who's out and Why
or What it means to be a Florida Writer

http://www.ncteamericancollection.org/litmap/florida.htm
Florida Writers:  A Literary Font

http://www.steveglassman.com/flawriters.html
FLORIDA WRITERS

http://www.far-and-near.com/cin_lit/hurston.htm
Their Eyes Were Watching God
A Florida town celebrates a lost literary classic, Zora Neale Hurston

http://www.sptimes.com/News/102900/Perspective/Florida_crime_and_all.shtml
Florida crime and all its juice

http://www.supernet.net/~jclark/florida/
Some Florida Writers

http://216.239.53.100/search?q=cache:DODFrq-2kc0C:www.mcc.cc.fl.us/Faculty/Jonesj/Flbib/FLCLASSICS.html+novels+florida&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
Regular page not there that’s why I’m pointing to the cache
Classic Florida Novels

http://216.239.53.100/search?q=cache:9tCDdDkI_2gC:www.mcc.cc.fl.us/Faculty/Jonesj/Flbib/FLHistNov.html+novels+florida&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
Regular page not there that’s why I’m pointing to the cache
Florida Historical Novels

http://www.jameswhall.com/booklist.htm

http://www.salon.com/books/review/1999/04/13/matthiessen/

http://web.english.ufl.edu/rawlings/page.htm

http://www-hsc.usc.edu/~gallaher/hurston/hurston.html
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/hurston.htm