Which novels are truly great - and why? This reference profiles 100 great novels drawn from all cultures and periods of literature. Each entry provides a plot summary and assessment, with an emphasis on facts about the novel's creation, critical reception, and contribution to literary history. Other features include a list of "honourable mentions" and a selected bibliography of representative critical works on each novel. In consultation with other scholars, Daniel S. Burt selected novels that reflect the culture of the times in which they were written and that continue to influence the novel as a genre. Among the works selected are: "Crime and Punishment" (Feodor Dostoyevsky); "Dream of the Red Chamber" (Cao Xuequin); "The Great Gatsby" (F. Scott Fitzgerald); "Native Son" (Richard Wright); "One Hundred Years of Solitude" (Gabriel Garcia Marquez); "Pride and Prejudice" (Jane Austen); "The Scarlet Letter" (Nathaniel Hawthorne); "The Sorrows of Young Werther" (Johann von Goethe); "Things Fall Apart" (Chinua Achebe); "The Trial" (Franz Kafka); and "Ulysses" (James Joyce).