Lily Bart, The House of Mirth, Edith Whartonīeautiful and finely dressed on the outside, but worn out and desperate on the inside - and never, ever rich enough - Lily Bart is a tragic heroine for the ages. One of the sneakiest characters in literature, not only in his many conniving schemes to get Lolita to be his very own, but also in that he manages to trick you into caring for him, even through your disgust and moral high ground. Humbert Humbert, Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov The devil’s favorite jester, and mine too.
Everyone else in my family is dead.” Strange and funny and constantly sizing up everyone around her and finding them wanting, MKB is the creepy little sister of my heart.īehemoth, The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakovīut of course: no one could forget Behemoth, that fast-talking, gun-toting, vodka-swilling, chess-playing, hog-sized, demonic black cat. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amantia phalloides, the deathcup mushroom. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. “I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. “My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood,” Jackson’s classic novel begins. Mary Katherine Blackwood, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson As always, this list reflects the personal tastes and proclivities of its creator, and many great characters didn’t make the cut (Jo March, Huck Finn, Merusault, Anne Shirley, looking at you), so if your favorite isn’t on here, and them on in the comments. To be clear: a great character isn’t always one you like (just ask Claire Messud), but one that is somehow extraordinary, or evokes some kind of delicious story-feeling in the reader.
After the jump, you’ll find 50 of the best. It follows, then, that every avid reader has a favorite literary character - whether they’re beloved for dastardly deeds, tough-girl antics, sex appeal, or a high snark quotient - and that there are many impossibly good ones out there. One of the things literature does better than almost any other medium is allow us to experience another person’s quality of mind, and sometimes even inhabit it.
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