40 women imprisoned underground with no memory of the outside world. Harpman's existentialist novel was nearly unknown in English until 2024, when it became a massive BookTok and literary phenomenon, proving that the internet can resurrect a 1995 novel and make it feel essential for the present moment. That 2024 resonance is its own kind of canonization.

The case for it, the case against, and the rest of the canon open with Pro.