who is the most overrated writer ever?

[Mark F.]

The Great Gatsby is a great novel, plenty of irony about the rich and mundane. The Last Tycoon, although he never finished it would probably have been even better. I haven't read his other work but so many authors are unable to write even one decent novel.

[Mrs. Dalloway]

Jane Austen and James Joyce overrated???

Jane Austen was one of the first women who wrote "in favour" of women! She criticized her society of being sexist. I think she was "brave" because in XIX Century was not easy, women writers were not well-seen.

[Stieg]

The Great Gatsby is a great novel, plenty of irony about the rich and mundane. The Last Tycoon, although he never finished it would probably have been even better. I haven't read his other work but so many authors are unable to write even one decent novel.

If and once I ever recover from This Side of Paradise, I'll try to give The Great Gatsby a swing. That novel put me in the literary ICU, barely made it out alive with my sanity intact.

[Virgil]

Jane Austen was one of the first women who wrote "in favour" of women! She criticized her society of being sexist. I think she was "brave" because in XIX Century was not easy, women writers were not well-seen.

I'm not that sure about that. While Austen wrote from a women's perspective, and that would naturally lead to sympatheize with their problems, I have never read anything from Austen to catagorize her a passioante feminist. In Emma, the female character settles to be married to a strong man. Where in Austen do you see her be so femnist?

[JBI]

I'm not that sure about that. While Austen wrote from a women's perspective, and that would naturally lead to sympatheize with their problems, I have never read anything from Austen to catagorize her a passioante feminist. In Emma, the female character settles to be married to a strong man. Where in Austen do you see her be so femnist?

Pride and Prejudice, where the woman ends up calling all the shots and not the man. Other than that I am not sure with Austen, though the female characters in the books tend to do what they want rather than what the men want, and the men are responsible for getting them to say "yes".

[Robert Jordan]

This Side Of Paradise. Exactly! Rich kid with rich mother traveling doing rich people things. Jumbled writing. Not engaging at all. Great Gatsby is about the rich, or at least people who are a lot more well off then my impoverished being. If you don't think it is then you must obviously have more money than I. I just don't think he's a good writer. Franz Kafka is also very overrated in my opinion. Maybe I'm not deep enough to follow his "plots" if you casn call them that. I tried reading the Metamorphosis because people told me it would be more cohesive, which it was, in a way, but it was incredibly dull too me. It just didn't interest me for some reason. I guess everyone has those authors. Kafka and Fitzgerald would have to be my picks for authors that I find overrated. I guess I'd throw in Bukowski as well. Also,aside from Junky, I'd say William Burroughs. Once you've read Naked Lunch you've pretty much read all his other works.

[aydin]

Must admit that I started This side of Paradise but never finished it. Am planning to though. I suppose the other thing about some of them seeming overrated is that you build them up before you've read them and sometimes it seems like a disappointment from what you were expecting...

STEIG - would also recommend The beautiful and Damned if you are going to read Fitzgerald. Although I guess I've kind of given away some of the plot...

ROBERT JORDAN - Yes, he does tend to write about rich people but that is because that is what he knew and probably felt could write accurately about. I'm far from rich as it happens but don't see why a character's financial position should deter me from enjoying a story. At the end of the day, it's about people, they sometimes just happen to have some money. If you don't like his writing, fair enough, but I don't see what his characters' affluence have to do with him being a bad writer. Sort of agree with you about Kafka and Bukowski.

VIRGIL - I think Austen's character's are considered feminist for her times. As in they had a mind of their own, and often spoke it too.

Also think Hunter S. Thompson and Jack Kerouac are overrated. Or perhaps I just don't like the beat generation style.

[kenikki]

Bret Easton Ellis. As much as I enjoy his work, I think it's a case of right place at the right time.

[liesl]

I'm so glad to see someone else agree with me, mostly because I was beginnign to think maybe it was just me!!! I am also beginning to think that its just a guy thing that maybe we women can't understand because all of my guy friends just LOVED Catcher in the Rye. Liesl, if your view does alter please explain it to me!

well i just finished studying 'Catcher in the Rye' in one of my modules at university and despite approaching it from various different angles (freudian aspects, buddhism comparisons etc) i remain unswayed about disliking the book. i'm beginning to think it may be because i just cannot relate to or accept liking Holden himself.

needless to say i was the only one in my class of 30 who admitted to disliking the text strange.

[Asa Adams]

Nora Roberts......Bah!

[Stieg]

aydin, I will make it my priority to give Fitzgerald a second shot, the one I had read probably was one of the author's lesser works, very aimless and vacuous.

[MarcMcGrath]

I agree that just because Shakespeare's plays are written in Middle English or if his works are not relevant to today's society, he shouldn't be called an overrated author.

But I consider Shakespeare an overrated author because I have always found his works to be extremely boring. Repetition of things again and again. Philosophic but on many places annoying dialogues. For example, all those things Romeo said to Juliet again and again. I have read Romeo and Juliet quite a time ago so I am afraid that I can't quote that passage though I would have loved to.

As for philosophic references, I agree that this man is very crafty but those writers who say things simply, and so more precisely, I personally consider them better. I don't see what's the point of making things up when they can be expressed in a more simple and concise manner. Some people call it an art, or beauty. But I don't see the beauty in reckoning one's brain off just so one can get the meaning behind Shakespeare's oh-so-clever-dialogues.

I must disagree with many of your points regarding Shakespeare's works. The man was a craftsmen of the language (modern English by the by, Chaucer was middle). Shakespeare is and has be continuously relevant to the cultures and societies which have adopted his theory and produced his plays. If the culture as a whole decided that this was not the case, he would simply disappear into the literary cannon of the past. Although we cannot relate to the setting or the Idiosyncrasies, and nuances of the cultures projected in the plays, the themes of love, war, death, paranoia etc. are always relatable and indeleble to the human spirit that transcends the never ending march of time over culture.
Shakespeare's use of "repetition" allows him to fully express and explore the themes of the play in a variety of depths. If a concise expression of ideas is what you're looking for than an essay may be better suited for your tastes. Fictional writing is an artistic endeavor that marries entertainment with ideas and knowledge. The complexity of the style create an ocean rather than a pool in regards to depth and this is what allows Shakespeare to be continually relevant in the ever-changing cultures of the world.

I dunno, it comes down to taste and opinion, if literary criticism has proven anything, it is that the aesthetic value of a given literary piece can never be completely decided upon. I hope I didn't come off as condescending or attacking, it was not my intention, I am just an antagonistic with a love of old Shakespeare.

[kandaurov]

A-b-s-o-l-u-t-e-l-y!

I'm quite mad at you! I have just now joined this forum and I wanted my very first post to be "Is it just me or Jane Austen is incredibly overrated?"

Heh, it's good that someone shares my opinion

[NickAdams]

Jorge Luis Borges. Although i've only read "Ficciones" I think so anyway.

I think he is a bit underrated by the general public.

[chaplin]

I enjoy making lists of authors you don't like much as much as the next man, but isn't this "overrated", "underrated" thing kind of pointless and trite? First of all, who determines what authors have what rating? the ratings you are saying are too low or too high? isn't it entirely and impossibly and inanely relative and subjective? And it really takes no basis, no knowledge of the author to say he or she is too high or too low on some mysterious list.