Edit: I'm dumb.
Here's my list:
Anthony Burgess
William Gaddis
Thomas Pynchon
Here's my list:
Anthony Burgess
William Gaddis
Thomas Pynchon
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Three greatest (english-language) novelists of the 20th century
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That's exactly why I didn't include DFW. He WAS genius. The Broom of the System and Infinite Jest were two works of greatness. He's gone now, and it's terrible.
As for Steinbeck being dated. Yes and no. The scenery, the perceived misogyny, the author's discordance with an evolving society, may all feel dated. However, there are tenets of the human condition that haven't and likely won't change. Therein lies the common bridge. Most of his character studies are timeless.
I'm going to take this chance right now to say that John Updike, Truman Capote, E.M. Forster, Richard Brautigan, Salinger, Carson McCullers, and Harper Lee all get my love. They don't make the Top 3 list for me, but at any given moment during my reading of their works, they were the best writers I'd ever read.
I suppose I ought to say that my picks re any list like this are solely based on my own personal experiences/preferences. I think to try and name who I think the top three anything are, based on their role in the history of art/literature/film/music, is presumptuous and inherently flawed as I cannot have interacted with enough work to be a decent judge. I admire those here that are trying to consider impact on other writers, but for me I am only considering the personal.
(And yes, I personally prefer post-modern writing and contemporary authors)
(And yes, I personally prefer post-modern writing and contemporary authors)
Very nicely said. I agree completely. It's utterly impossible. I'm enjoying seeing what others are saying. Without this thread I would still have Pynchon and Faulkner languishing toward the bottom of my ever-increasing book queue.
NOT in order:
James Joyce
James Joyce
Actually, thanks--I'll replace Burgess with Faulkner, if hesitantly.
Burgess may be one of the most unsung greats of the century, along with Nathalie Saurraute, but Faulkner is the best of the holy triumvirate of greenlight modernists (practically lapping Joyce and Proust, imo).
As for post-WWII, I think Pynchon is head & torso above everyone else. Mr. DeLillo, certainly, is craning his neck in hopes of a glimpse of that altitude...
Burgess may be one of the most unsung greats of the century, along with Nathalie Saurraute, but Faulkner is the best of the holy triumvirate of greenlight modernists (practically lapping Joyce and Proust, imo).
As for post-WWII, I think Pynchon is head & torso above everyone else. Mr. DeLillo, certainly, is craning his neck in hopes of a glimpse of that altitude...
It's interesting to me that you chose EM Forster over Virginia Woolf if you're going with the Bloomsbury Group. His writing is decidedly more "masculine" so that's a draw. Plus, I love his description in Passage to India of the Marabar caves is incredible and has always stuck with me, where anything the characters say is dulled in them always being reduced to the same monotonous sound... It makes me feel so small and like no matter what we do or say, in the grand scheme of things, it all comes out as one dull sound.
ALso, you put both Updike and Salinger in your list, and I've always found them to be somewhat similar (I recommend people read Rabbit Run if they really like Catcher in the Rye). My only beef with Updike is he made using sentence fragments popular in academic literature and that irks me a little bit!
It's interesting to me that you chose EM Forster over Virginia Woolf if you're going with the Bloomsbury Group. His writing is decidedly more "masculine" so that's a draw. Plus, I love his description in Passage to India of the Marabar caves is incredible and has always stuck with me, where anything the characters say is dulled in them always being reduced to the same monotonous sound... It makes me feel so small and like no matter what we do or say, in the grand scheme of things, it all comes out as one dull sound.
ALso, you put both Updike and Salinger in your list, and I've always found them to be somewhat similar (I recommend people read Rabbit Run if they really like Catcher in the Rye). My only beef with Updike is he made using sentence fragments popular in academic literature and that irks me a little bit!
I didn't intend to nod Forster over Woolf, or compare Salinger and Updike. I just was kind of giving a quick written salute to them to underscore how hard it is to define, and the unique parameters that come into play, when we talk Top 3.
Those authors I jotted off were, at some point during the time that I was reading their work, as good as it gets for me. But it becomes impossible for me to make these lists because I'm not very well familiarized with Faulkner, Woolf, Pynchon, and plenty of others.
Holy cow I have a lot of reading to do. The saddest thing is, now that I have a DVR, I watch TV WAY too much. I used to read a book or two a week. Now I'm more of a book a month guy. Shameful.
I wasn't condemning your choice of Forster or anything, I just felt like commenting on some of the authors you posted that I enjoy. 
I find the same thing though, with TV sometimes taking up too much time. I decided to watch almost all of the HBO and Showtime shows that have received widespread critical acclaim and this has taken up a LOT of time. I'm an English Lit grad student though, so I get enough reading through school work--of course it's predominately theory at this point... 
Luckily in Canada laws against pirating aren't too tough yet, so I can pretty much watch any episode of any show I want at any given moment over my computer, so it's such a tempting alternative at times, even as shameful as that is to admit!
I find the same thing though, with TV sometimes taking up too much time. I decided to watch almost all of the HBO and Showtime shows that have received widespread critical acclaim and this has taken up a LOT of time. I'm an English Lit grad student though, so I get enough reading through school work--of course it's predominately theory at this point... Luckily in Canada laws against pirating aren't too tough yet, so I can pretty much watch any episode of any show I want at any given moment over my computer, so it's such a tempting alternative at times, even as shameful as that is to admit!
Well said re Faulkner. Not that I find him at all easy or even enjoyable much of the time. I do get the feeling that all of the effort put into reading him is repaid. Hats off to anyone that goes back and reads him as a result of this thread. He seemed to expand the field as to what is possible in literature how things can be done. So one of the greatest. But am I wrong that at the end of the day, he does not seem nearly as influential as might have been expected. I guess, for that matter, no one is trying to write a version of Finnegan's Wake either.
Pynchon seems difficult, too. I should read more Pynchon.
<John Updike, Truman Capote, E.M. Forster, Richard Brautigan, Salinger, Carson McCullers, and Harper Lee>
Definitely. And for some of these, the issue is whether they are great novelists. I would say that most are great writers. Harper Lee at one book, for instance. If one novel does it, I would put Ralph Ellison the top ten list anyway. I think Invisible Man is one of the great works of the 20th century. Truman Capote wrote some sentences that are as good as any ones, and he did not write many bad ones. What do you do with someone like Salinger though? Wrote some utterly enduring stuff. Wrote some utter crap, too. And was pretty much of a waste and a jerk of a human being. Should life style affect my view of him as a writer? Hard for it not to. Does anyone like Woody Allen quite as much as they once did? Updike was damn good. Not sure why he does not seem great to me. Cheever somehow seems closer to great. I have no idea why that would be. Forester, very moving, seems to touch the subconscious.
Re Steinbeck <the author's discordance with an evolving society> Yeah, maybe it is the socialist perspective that in part seems dated. He was a master of character. I almost have a feel though that his protagonists were too good. A feel that his pitch was that man was naturally good and it was his environment that caused individual men to do evil. Maybe I am thinking too much of "Of Mice and Men" and not enough of other novels. I sure read most of them. Also maybe a little literal to feel modern. A little Michner-esque. A bit of a feel thinking back that Steinbeck was preaching to me. Maybe I am misremembering. Steinbeck was my favorite author for a long time.
I'm not a big leisure reader as I read mostly technical books about computer software. But here are some I liked in College and High School;
Steinbeck (Grapes of Wraith, Travels with Charlie)
Conrad (Heart of Darkness)
Heller (Catch 22)
This would be a good thread to reference if one ever wants to get caught up great classic books.
Steinbeck (Grapes of Wraith, Travels with Charlie)
Conrad (Heart of Darkness)
Heller (Catch 22)
This would be a good thread to reference if one ever wants to get caught up great classic books.
I read for enjoyment and have done my share of the Classics. When I was in college, and working through my unending quest for good books to read, I started in on the list of Pulitzer Prize winners. It was a good source for fine books. That said, there's no way that I see critical acclaim equaling enjoyable reading.
It seems to me that too often folks are embarrassed to discuss their own favorites, fearing that they are somehow shallow or common. Personally, I've never had the patience to wade through Faulkner. I wonder, too, about the minds that deem themselves qualified to pick books worthy of literary awards. I believe few would dispute the value of, say, "The Grapes of Wrath", but how about, "The Mambo Kings....."?
I shudder to think of the number of folks who never crack a book and always imagine them thinking back to some old battle axe scolding them for despising Shakespeare or other force-fed reads. My Dad taught me to read before kindergarten and I'm eternally grateful. Somewhere along the way I learned to chuck a book I couldn't enjoy....there are far too many good books to waste time wading through garbage. Of course....one man's trash is another's treasure...
It seems to me that too often folks are embarrassed to discuss their own favorites, fearing that they are somehow shallow or common. Personally, I've never had the patience to wade through Faulkner. I wonder, too, about the minds that deem themselves qualified to pick books worthy of literary awards. I believe few would dispute the value of, say, "The Grapes of Wrath", but how about, "The Mambo Kings....."?
I shudder to think of the number of folks who never crack a book and always imagine them thinking back to some old battle axe scolding them for despising Shakespeare or other force-fed reads. My Dad taught me to read before kindergarten and I'm eternally grateful. Somewhere along the way I learned to chuck a book I couldn't enjoy....there are far too many good books to waste time wading through garbage. Of course....one man's trash is another's treasure...
ok here we go
Huxley Brave New World
Orwell 1984
Heller Catch 22
Shout out to Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh and American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis
Huxley Brave New World
Orwell 1984
Heller Catch 22
Shout out to Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh and American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis
Prewar? I'll pick two.
Thomas Mann
James Joyce
I know that Mann's original language is German, but you have to give him credit for the fact that his work is masterful even when translated. Oh, to be able to read The Magic Mountain in the original German.
A shame we are restricted to English-language authors.
DFW should be saved for the 21st Century.
Thomas Mann
James Joyce
I know that Mann's original language is German, but you have to give him credit for the fact that his work is masterful even when translated. Oh, to be able to read The Magic Mountain in the original German.
A shame we are restricted to English-language authors.
DFW should be saved for the 21st Century.
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Well, he died in the 21st, but his major works were all 20th, esp. Infinite Jest (1996). Not sure about your reasoning, there.
