{"id":308632,"date":"2026-03-27T07:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T11:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/?p=308632"},"modified":"2026-03-26T16:31:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T20:31:03","slug":"help-us-crown-literatures-ultimate-cad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/help-us-crown-literatures-ultimate-cad\/","title":{"rendered":"Help Us Crown Literature\u2019s Ultimate Cad"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Every March, we gather for the time-honored literary tradition of trying to make a pun out of March Madness. Last year, you helped us decide the best campus novel ever written in our March Gradness<\/em> bracket. The year before, March Sadness<\/em>. Now we\u2019re back again with March Cadness<\/em>, a quest to find literature\u2019s best (or worst?) cad!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, we\u2019ll admit it: We\u2019re running out of puns. For this one, we had to reach back\u2014way back\u2014to the 19th century, when cad<\/em> was a popular term to describe a dishonorable man who uses charm and seduction in pursuit of selfish ends, often leaving wrecked relationships in his wake. While cad<\/em> may feel dated or unfamiliar, the archetype is not. The cad has never really gone away; he\u2019s just changed names. From Don Juan to player to fuckboy, literature has always been populated by these disreputable men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What remains true about the cad is that he is narratively irresistible. He generates plot, accelerating conflict, stoking desire, and inviting humiliation. He is, for better or worse, the engine of many books. And yet, what often makes this archetype so compelling is not his bad behavior, but his slow unraveling\u2014the moment the mask slips and he is exposed for what he is: a cad!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this competition, we\u2019ve gathered the worst cads across literary history: the smooth talkers, the liars, the self-mythologizers. You can start making your picks on Monday, 3\/30 at 12 PM Eastern on our Instagram<\/a> stories. Check out the bracket below and download it here<\/a> to fill out your picks, then follow along to see if your (least?) favorite cad wins!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below is a sneak peek of the Round One match-ups, featuring 32 of the best cad novels out there, ranging from classics to contemporary takes on the cad.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Scroll through the match-ups below to see which cads will be up against each other in Round One:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Every March, we gather for the time-honored literary tradition of trying to make a pun out of March Madness. Last year, you helped us decide the best campus novel ever written in our March Gradness bracket. The year before, March Sadness. Now we\u2019re back again with March Cadness, a quest to find literature\u2019s best (or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7109,"featured_media":308654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[243],"tags":[5572,257,6186],"class_list":["post-308632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-books","tag-classics","tag-contest"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHelp Us Crown Literature\u2019s Ultimate Cad - Electric Literature<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Cast your votes next week to choose the best (worst?) cad of all time\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/?p=308632\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Help Us Crown Literature\u2019s Ultimate Cad - 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