BBC selection of the 20 best novels from 2000 to 2014
The BBC's selection of the 20 best novels between 2000 and 2014 was published in January 2015. Dozens of literary critics had been asked in advance to name the best novels that had been published in English since January 1, 2000 . The aim was to identify the novels that had the best chance of becoming classics of 21st century literature.
The critics named a total of 156 different works. The novel The Brief Miraculous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz received the most frequent mentions . With Austerlitz by WG Sebald , a work by a German author is also mentioned. Translations by the Chilean Roberto Bolaño and the Italian Elena Ferrante are also listed. The Nigerian Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and the British Zadie Smith are each represented with two novels. With a total of 10 works, American authors dominate the list, but the British newspaper The Guardian also pointed out that the survey took place predominantly among American literary critics. Apart from two novels, namely Elena Ferrante's L'amica geniale and Zadie Smith's London NW , novels have been selected that have previously received several prestigious literary prizes.
In a brief review of the novels selected, The Guardian noted that some of the most critically acclaimed works in literary reviews of recent years were missing from this list. The Guardian named Jonathan Franzen's novel Freiheit and Donna Tartt's novel The Distelfink as examples of such missing works .