By Pauls Toutonghi
Nov 11, 2011
For the past three nights - during hours when I could have been sleeping or drinking wine with friends or writing my own past-deadline journalism - I sipped tea and compulsively read Jamil Ahmad’s novel, The Wandering Falcon. It’s a beautiful book, sure, but it’s also a wise book, and its author - a first-time novelist - is 80 years old.
So I wondered: could a younger writer have published something with such emotional breadth and depth and range?
In an age when American culture is dominated by youth and celebrity (and the celebrity of youth), it’s hard to find a place where age is valued. But who would demand: “Get me the youngest heart surgeon imaginable!” Or: “I want an airline pilot who’s never flown a mile.” Or: “You know what I’d like? A teenage investment banker.”
Yet in literature, we now seem to value youth above all else. First novels by 20-somethings are treasured commodities, as if the young regularly have something interesting to say.
So in defense of experience, I present: [my] Eight over Eighty.
1. Jamil Ahmad
2. Toni Morrison
3. William Kennedy
4. Ursula K. Le Guin
5. Nawal el-Saadawi
6. Joseph McElroy
7. Khushwant Singh
8. Herman Wouk
Click here to read Toutonghi's descriptions of each author.