Most under rated authors [Archive] - Literature Network Forums

emily655321

01-22-2006, 04:32 PM

I don't hear Terry Pratchett mentioned nearly as often as, say, Douglas Adams, but I think he should be. Although, perhaps he is and I just don't hear it. I'm also immensely fond of Michael Ende (The Neverending Story, Momo).

However, I don't think I'd necessarily like them to be mentioned more. As with movies and musical artists, I like to complain about the bad ones that get all the attention, but I get genuinely disgruntled when something that was previously "underground" becomes really popular. Not that Pratchett and Ende aren't famous, but I think I like them better at the level of fame they have.

Virgil

01-22-2006, 04:33 PM

This is a little harder, especially since I think it's harder to perceive under worth. Again I'll stay away from contemporary writers.

Sir Thomas Malory (Le Morte D'Arthur is not a hodge-podege, but a carefully composed work.
Virgil (I don't know why The Aneaid is downgraded these days.)
Eugene O'Neil
Ezra Pound (When he stays away from his politics and racial theories, he's a better than aaverage poet.)
James T. Farrell (Studs Lonigan Trilogy, a minor writer but I enjoyed it.)
Ralph Ellison (Invisble Man is the best post WWII American novel.)
Henry Fielding (Tom Jones is the great novel of his era.)
The anonymous author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
William Faulkner (I know he's held in high esteem, but to me he's the greatest of the 20th C.
Jonathan Swift
D.H. Lawrence (Also held in high esteem , but unfairly demoted lately by the feminsists)

rachel

01-22-2006, 04:41 PM

I totally agree with naming Mallory, I have his Morte D'Arthur and he in my opinion is a genius the way he uses words to evoke scenes, feelings, other worldliness.
I know this may sound odd but I feel Jrr Tolkien does not have the serious esteem to which he is entitled. He wrote in a more childlike way perhaps than many but it is that very simple way of writing that so enchants and all that work to make a subworld complete with histories of thousands of years for each group of beings. And the philological work alone-languages that sound wondrous to my ear-well i think he is just seen as a sci fi sort of guy - a professor of distinction-well it is just how I feel.

IrishCanadian

01-22-2006, 04:44 PM

Psalms of David ... I'v noticed recently how great some of that poetry is ... but even by Catholics the psalms are sometimes dismissed as simple elementary prayers rather than poems. (I suppose they are both , but some great poems amoung them).
And the Poetry of Seamus Heaney (did I spell that right?),I usually don't like the post modern poets ... but he has an evident respenct for the classics that comes through in his works.
.. and CS Lewis ... why do people think that the Lion the Witch and the Wardrob is his greatest work? ... He's brillient

PeterL

01-22-2006, 05:01 PM

Jonathan Swift is truly one of the giants of English literature
A few more are:
Lord Dunsany
L. Sprague de Camp
Fritz Leiber

Charles Darnay

01-22-2006, 05:53 PM

Xamonas Chegwe

01-22-2006, 06:04 PM

bluevictim

01-22-2006, 09:05 PM

I think Alexander Pope is a great poet that is often overlooked. I didn't hear of him until I came across some citations of his translations of Homer while going through the Iliad. The 2004 film The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind probably brought him more exposure through his poem Eloisa to Abelard (I really enjoyed the movie, but it had little to do with Pope's poem).

I don't know why Pope is not more well known. Perhaps it's due to the shadow of Milton. Maybe people don't take him seriously because of the whimsical nature of his most famous work, The Rape of the Lock. Maybe it's because the popular conception of the nature of poetry has changed so much.

Of course, this is not to say that he is obscure; fortunately, there is a good edition of his poems published by Yale that is still in print (I think).

Ryduce

01-22-2006, 09:21 PM

I just don't believe I'm intelligent enough for Faulkner.

Charles Darnay

01-22-2006, 10:53 PM

"I don't think I'm intellegent enough for Faulkner" - that's one i've never heard before.... I think you give yourself too little credit. Faulker is good and not that challenging if you take the time.

IrishCanadian

01-23-2006, 02:31 AM

I think Alexander Pope is a great poet that is often overlooked. ).
Saaaaay ... why don't we have Pope in the archives here? (hint hint)

bluevictim

01-23-2006, 02:58 AM

Saaaaay ... why don't we have Pope in the archives here? (hint hint)

IrishCanadian,

After I read this, I snooped around and saw the thread where you and Virgil requested this. What a coincidence! I didn't see that thread when I posted about Pope above; I guess I can rest assured that Pope isn't too underrated around here!

The Unnamable

01-23-2006, 04:56 AM

I guess I can rest assured that Pope isn't too underrated around here!
Some of us are huge fans but satire isn’t that welcome on the site, except as something to praise at a distance. The ‘Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot’ is a wonderful poem. Swift’s also a pretty decent poet and so is Dryden and even Dr, Johnson – London and The Vanity of Human Wishes are both worth the effort. Pope is more effortless and technically gifted than all of them, however.

Two more modern, overlooked writers (I’ll stick to poets as they tend to get overlooked anyway) are Welsh poet RS Thomas and Irish poet, Patrick Kavanagh. I also really enjoy Vernon Scannell’s work. The man used to teach English and was once a professional boxer. Good for him.

Anyway, here’s a Thomas poem, followed by one from Kavanagh:

A Peasant by RS Thomas

Iago Prytherch his name, though, be it allowed,
Just an ordinary man of the bald Welsh hills,
Who pens a few sheep in a gap of cloud.
Docking mangels, chipping the green skin
From the yellow bones with a half-witted grin
Of satisfaction, or churning the crude earth
To a stiff sea of clods that glint in the wind--
So are his days spent, his spittled mirth
Rarer than the sun that cracks the cheeks
Of the gaunt sky perhaps once in a week.
And then at night see him fixed in his chair
Motionless, except when he leans to gob in the fire.
There is something frightening in the vacancy of his mind.
His clothes, sour with years of sweat
And animal contact, shock the refined,
But affected, sense with their stark naturalness.
Yet this is your prototype, who, season by season
Against siege of rain and the wind's attrition,
Preserves his stock, an impregnable fortress
Not to be stormed, even in death's confusion.
Remember him, then, for he, too, is a winner of wars,
Enduring like a tree under the curious stars.

Canal Bank Walk by Patrick Kavanagh

Leafy-with-love banks and the green waters of the canal
Pouring redemption for me, that I do
The will of God, wallow in the habitual, the banal,
Grow with nature again as before I grew.
The bright stick trapped, the breeze adding a third
Party to the couple kissing on an old seat,
And a bird gathering materials for the nest for the Word
Eloquently new and abandoned to its delirious beat.
O unworn world enrapture me, encapture me in a web
Of fabulous grass and eternal voices by a beech,
Feed the gaping need of my senses, give me ad lib
To pray unselfconsciously with overflowing speech
For this soul needs to be honoured with a new dress woven
From green and blue things and arguments that cannot be proven.

EAP

01-23-2006, 05:48 AM

Peter L and Emily have already mentioned a few authors I'd have named (Lovecraft, Michael Ende and Leiber), so I'll continue in the same vein and name a few extremely overlooked speculative fiction greats.

George R. R. Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire Saga, Fevre Dream, A Song for Lya, Tuf Voyaging, Dying of Light)
Dan Simmons (The Hyperion Cantos, Illum and Olympus, Carrion Comfort)
Iain R. MacLeod (The Light Ages, House of Storms)
Robert Charles Wilson (Darwinia)
Frederik Pohl (Gateway)
Roger Zelazny (The Amber Chronicles, A Night in lonseome October)
Hal Clement (Mission of Gravity, Noise, Needle, Ice World)
R. Scott Bakker (Prince of Nothing Trilogy)
Alan Garner (Red Shift, Owl Service)
Michael De Larrabieti (The Borribles)
Guy Gavriel Kay (Tigana, Lions of Al-Rassan, The Sarantine Mosiac Duology, The Finovar Tapestry, The Last Light of the Sun)

beer good

01-23-2006, 06:35 AM

A possibly related question - just how is Paul Auster rated in the US? I consider him one of the greatest living novelists (even if "The Brooklyn Follies" was disappointing) and I was very surprised to see that his latest novel hasn't even been released in the US yet... I don't think it's the first time, either, that his novels are published in the UK and even translated into other languages before they're out in his home country. To me, that seems to suggest that he's underrated... but then again, there might be some perfectly good reason that I just don't know about.

Pendragon

01-23-2006, 07:40 AM

Shel Silverstein

Many try to have his works banned because he deals with life as it is, not as we wish it would be. His poetry and storys are modern parables to life in a world that is not always fair. But somehow, you always get through. A feww favorites are The Giving Tree and Where the Sidewalk Ends

PeterL

01-23-2006, 10:40 AM

A possibly related question - just how is Paul Auster rated in the US? I consider him one of the greatest living novelists (even if "The Brooklyn Follies" was disappointing) and I was very surprised to see that his latest novel hasn't even been released in the US yet...

I have read only one of his books, and I enjoyed it. I wouldn't rank him with Poe or Twain, but he is a pretty good writer. There are better authors who are less known. One with whom I am acquainted is Kirby Farrell; his novel "Snuff" is great, but he hasn't been able to sell anything since the early 90's.

Jay T

01-23-2006, 11:00 AM

Michael Moorcock.

A lot of people only know him for the fantasy stories that he poured out in the 60s & 70s. But books like "Gloriana", "The Brothel in Rosenstrasse" and the Colonel Pyatt series are up there with many of the best. Not to mention the gloriously surreal Jerry Cornelius books and the baffling but compelling "Blood", "Fabulous Harbours" & "The War Among The Angels".

Completely agreem but would add his Mother London his single greatest work IMHO), King of the City (a semi-sequel), and a collection, London Bone.

I want to say Edward Whittemore is the single most underated author I can think of - his Jerusalem Quartet is essential reading IMHO,

Some others that are underated IMHO:

Mark Danielewski (House of Leaves)
Brooks Hansen (The Chess Garden)
Jeffrey Ford (Girl in the Glass, Portrait of Ms Charbuque)
Maueen McHugh (Mothers and Other Monsters (collection), China Mountain Zhang)
Steve Aylett (Lint)
Kobo Abe (Woman in the Dunes)
Kelly Link (Stranger Things Happen)
M. John Harrison (Course of Heart, Light, Signs of Life)
Catherynne M Valente (Yume Me Hon: Book of Dreams)
Cordwainer Smith (The Rediscovery of Man)
Lucius Shepard (Jaguar Hunter, Truijo, Eternity and Other Stories)

Xamonas Chegwe

01-23-2006, 11:14 AM

Completely agreem but would add his Mother London his single greatest work IMHO), King of the City (a semi-sequel), and a collection, London Bone.

I would add those and a whole lot more, but I was attempting brevity for once. ;)

And I agree about M. John Harrison. I recently bought a collection of all of his Viriconium stories. He writes like most people dream.

I am unfamiliar with all of the other authors you mention. So I guess they really are unappreciated - by me at least!

XC

subterranean

01-24-2006, 08:58 PM

...Swift and Dryden...

Here here...Yes, many are not familiar with Swift being a poet or Dryden as a poet. For the later, I once created a thread about him in the poetry section. And yes, only few responses.

Sharkán

01-24-2006, 11:16 PM

I wouldn't be surprised if I'm hailed with many solid disagreements for this, but I find Edward Bulwer-Lytton to be especially downplayed. (No, it wasn't Snoopy who first penned that famous phrase "It was a dark and stormy night.") Sure the fellow might display a case of verbiage or poor composition--time and again might actually be the case--but some of the subjects he used for novels were genuinely interesting and original for their day.

If this opinion has genuinely piqued anyone's interest, I would suggest http://www.edward-bulwer-lytton.org/ as the place to view a number of his works in their entirety. Or http://www.gutenberg.org. Under the L's in the online book catalog for a more complete selection.

That's about it.

Pensive

01-25-2006, 08:21 AM

Sir Walter Scott
David Eddings
George Eliot
Virgil

Just the ones that first came to mind..... George Eliot especially, I find is drowned in the shadows of Jane Austin and the Bronte's.... i like Eliot's works better.

Man, I agree with you there, in the case of Gorge Eliot. She is a very good author. :nod:

I found her writing quite better than Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte.

aentonius

01-25-2006, 11:15 AM

Wow, someone who knows Dryden! I like him too. He is considered a minor Romantic poet. I don't know why, but I identify him with John Donne, and Alexander Pope. (more under rated poets)

prasanthja

01-30-2006, 08:54 AM

Oscar Wilde doesn't get the merit he deserves. [Don't drag the trials into this.]

higley

01-30-2006, 01:09 PM

C.S. Lewis isn't underrated, I don't think, but some of his books are. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe deserves every bit of praise and attention it gets, but some of Lewis's other stuff goes somewhat neglected. This probably is because pretty much all of it is direct Christian theology, and not many people read that, though I was surprised to discover that more people than I realized have at least read The Screwtape Letters and enjoyed it as much as I did.

Notoriety usually takes time (it's the same in the art world), and many of the contemporary authors listed here will probably be more well known in ten or twenty years than they are now.

byucougs

02-01-2006, 06:44 PM

Wow, someone who knows Dryden! I like him too. He is considered a minor Romantic poet. I don't know why, but I identify him with John Donne, and Alexander Pope. (more under rated poets)

John Donne is one of my favorite British poet. His poem "Valediction Forbidding Mourning" is one of my favorite poems of all time!

So let us melt, and make no noise,
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move ;
'Twere profanation of our joys*
To tell the laity our love.*

Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears ;
Men reckon what it did, and meant ;
But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent.

Anyone who wants a great laugh, read "Rape of the Lock" by Alexander Pope. This is far better than anything on Saturday Night Live these days.

PeterL

02-02-2006, 10:49 AM

Anyone who wants a great laugh, read "Rape of the Lock" by Alexander Pope. This is far better than anything on Saturday Night Live these days.

I think that the two canto version is much better than the later version.

Panurge

02-06-2006, 09:47 AM

Firstly, I would like to simper and nuzzle up to Peter L in a disturbing manner for mentioning Lord Dunsany and Fritz Leiber. Also, I would include James Branch Cabell, who was influenced by the former and had a great influence on the latter. In the 20s he was considered to be a great rising voice in literature but now he is sadly and undeservedly neglected.

Another special mention goes to George MacDonald Fraser ('editor' of the Flashman papers). I know he's fairly popular but I still feel he is worthy of a wider readership.

I love Donne, but I'm afraid Pope, and all that neo-classicist bag in general, has always left me a bit cold. I can see the merit in it but... To be fair, it's been a long time since I read much, so I should really go back and try again.

PeterL

02-06-2006, 10:12 AM

Also, I would include James Branch Cabell, who was influenced by the former and had a great influence on the latter. In the 20s he was considered to be a great rising voice in literature but now he is sadly and undeservedly neglected.

I'm not familiar with James Branch Cabell except as a name referred to by others, but I'll read some of his work.

Another special mention goes to George MacDonald Fraser ('editor' of the Flashman papers). I know he's fairly popular but I still feel he is worthy of a wider readership.

George MacDonald Fraser hasn't done any great writing, but he has done a lot of very good writing. The history that he included was excellent, and some of it is difficult to find out about from other sources. But he best thing in the Flashman books is the characterization of Flashman. SHowing one thing by over empahsizing the opposite is usually a satirical technique, but Fraser used it beautifully to create an understated hero.

Whifflingpin

02-06-2006, 10:23 AM

Richard Powell - His "Don Quixote USA" and "Tickets to the Devil" are very funny - roll on the floor laughing till the tears come funny. "Whom the God's Would Destroy," a tale set in the Trojan War, handles war, love, growing up, friends and enemies and everything else, in a [insert any good quality here] way. But his books are not to be found in bookshops or public libraries.

.

Panurge

02-06-2006, 12:11 PM

Peter L - I do agree completely with your comments on Fraser. I certainly wouldn't rate him as a 'great' writer. I believe that category is generally reserved for authors who give us a real insight into the human condition, or who break new ground in terms of style or approach, neither of which Fraser seems to have any intention of doing. But his writing is as exciting and well paced as Robert Louis Stevenson and his attention to historical detail and language is, as you say, astounding. I read his books for the pleasure of pure, guilty (especially apt in the case of Flashman) escapism.

Judging from the other authors you've mentioned, I feel fairly confident that you'd like Cabell. 'Jurgen' is often considered to be his best work but I prefer 'The Silver Stallion'. I'd love to know what you, or anybody else, thinks about his work as I've never had the opportunity of discussing it.

Whifflingpin

02-06-2006, 12:43 PM

"George MacDonald Fraser hasn't done any great writing"

"that category is generally reserved for authors who give us a real insight into the human condition"

Have you read "Quartered Safe out here" or "The Light's On At Signpost?"

.

Panurge

02-06-2006, 01:24 PM

I'm not aware of 'The Light's on at Signpost' but I have read 'Quartered Safe Out Here' and I even (a vain and irrelevant boast, I know) worked with a bloke who served with Mr MF in India.

I do consider him to be one of the best there is in his field, and he's certainly a deft old hand at portraying human nature, but I agree with PeterL's comments. By saying he doesn't offer insights into the human condition I meant that he doesn't engage in the philosophical speculation generally associated with 'great' authors (note the quotation marks), preferring to observe and entertain. That's not always a bad thing...

Whifflingpin

02-06-2006, 04:28 PM

I wouldn't disagree with you, Panurge. My post was a bit abrupt, so I'll add a bit.

If you only know GMF from the "Flashman" books, then reading the other books will show you a different dimension to his writing. If, having read them, you still don't include him among the great writers, then fair enough.

For myself, I think I'll paraphrase your comments into, "He can't be great because I can understand what he says."

.

Panurge

02-07-2006, 02:14 AM

Thank you for paraphrasing my comments. If work I understand is work I don't consider to be 'great', then by implication 'great' literature is work I don't understand. It is possible, I concede, that this would account for the pride of place given to the 1976 Vauxhall Owner's Manual on my bookshelf, and the great reverence in which I hold anything ever written in Urdu. I must examine my motives more closely...

Ultimately, of course, the quality of an author can only be subjectively defined. I find GMF hugely funny, moving and entertaining but whilst reading him I have never felt that sharp prod in the vitals which, for me, is what a truly great author should deliver. Figuratively speaking, of course.

blp

02-07-2006, 10:57 AM

This is a bit of a boring old hobbyhorse of mine, but no one ever seems to notice so I'll mention her again: Kathy Acker. Her books Blood and Guts in Highschool and Great Expectations are two of the most startling reading experiences I've had. Didn't like the former much at first. She had a rule that she would never rewrite or edit her own work and it reads like that, messy, sprawling, self pitying and seemingly amateurish. But it's genius. Often very very funny too.

PeterL

05-13-2006, 05:09 PM

I still think that L. Sprague de Camp was the best American author of the 20th century. For the rest of the world, we will have to settle for Umberto Eco, to put it in the most understated way possible.

Idril

05-13-2006, 06:11 PM

I just don't believe I'm intelligent enough for Faulkner.

I feel the same way, I can't make heads nor tails of it. Well, that's not entirely true, whenever I read Faulkner and I read a couple before I gave up, I feel like I'm on the cusp of understanding what he's talking about, it's right there, seemingly within my grasp but yet the full meaning always alludes me. I haven't attempted him for a few years now, maybe maybe I'm a little smarter now than I was in my 20's, at least it would be nice to think that. ;)

Another Victorian author that doesn't get mentioned very often but I've always enjoyed is Anthony Trollope ... and John Galsworthy, I know that last one won a Nobel prize for his writing so it's hard to say he's underrated but no one ever seems to talk about him anymore and that's a shame because Forsyte Saga is an incredibly well written series and it has a more of a bite to it other Victorian novels, he's able to pull himself out of his own time and look at it completely objectively and he delves much more deeply into his characters' psyches than most authors of the genre. I think he gets written off as just another Victorian author but I think of him as being able to transcend his time.

PeterL

05-14-2006, 02:03 PM

I feel the same way, I can't make heads nor tails of it. Well, that's not entirely true, whenever I read Faulkner and I read a couple before I gave up, I feel like I'm on the cusp of understanding what he's talking about, it's right there, seemingly within my grasp but yet the full meaning always alludes me. I haven't attempted him for a few years now, maybe maybe I'm a little smarter now than I was in my 20's, at least it would be nice to think that. ;)

If you feel that he didn't express himself well, then maybe you should study his work more carefully and explain to other people what is wrong with his work.

Idril

05-14-2006, 03:35 PM

If you feel that he didn't express himself well, then maybe you should study his work more carefully and explain to other people what is wrong with his work.

You're a little defensive, aren't you? ;) How many books is a person supposed to read of an author they don't connect with? 3? 5? I think I was doing pretty good to pick up the second one after the first one left me completely confused. :lol: And I wasn't really trying to criticize Faulkner or to say I think there is anything wrong with his work, I was just commenting on my inability to follow his sometimes long and meandering sentences and I was just excited someone else felt like I do. I've always felt quite embarrassed about my dislike of Faulkner and readily admit the fault is with me, not the author. And I did mention it was possibly time for me to give him a second chance.

PeterL

05-14-2006, 03:44 PM

You're a little defensive, aren't you? ;) How many books is a person supposed to read of an author they don't connect with? 3? 5? I think I was doing pretty good to pick up the second one after the first one left me completely confused. :lol: And I wasn't really trying to criticize Faulkner or to say I think there is anything wrong with his work, I was just commenting on my inability to follow his sometimes long and meandering sentences and I was just excited someone else felt like I do. I've always felt quite embarrassed about my dislike of Faulkner and readily admit the fault is with me, not the author. And I did mention it was possibly time for me to give him a second chance.

Disliking a writer is one thing, and not understanding the author is another thing. As for me, I know that I am not wildly enthusiastic about Faulkner, but I haven't decided whether it is personal preference or something else. It appears that you have decided that you don't like the way that he wrote.

superunknown

05-17-2006, 08:06 PM

Nathanael West is great. His two novellas "Miss Lonelyhearts" and "The Day of the Locust" are brilliant.

Milan Kundera could also use a bit more recognition. As coud Haruki Murakami.

crisaor

05-17-2006, 08:23 PM

I don't think Jorge Luis Borges is known as he should be.

rabid reader

05-17-2006, 09:25 PM

David (and latter Leigh) Eddings- amazing fantasy writers, who in my opinion surpass ever Tolken but that is probably just me.

Also the genius of Douglas Adams is very underrated I find, the satire you find in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series is rarly bettered or eqqualled, of course once agian my personnal opinion

PeterL

05-17-2006, 10:32 PM

Also the genius of Douglas Adams is very underrated I find, the satire you find in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series is rarly bettered or equalled, of course once agian my personnal opinion

A friend of mine heard Doug Adams speak about his writing once. It was something along the lines of: "I was hired by the group producing "Dr Who". I worked hard to insert social commentary and some worthwhile themes into what had been simple trash. They fired me. I started writing the Hitchikers Guide. I didn't put anything into it. It was just empty foolishness, and then it became a hit. People were finding all sorts of deep messages. I still can't believe it." I enjoyed the Hitchiker's Guide series. They are fun to read, but there isn't any depth. Every time they started to show some depth, something else happened.

Satine

06-03-2006, 03:36 PM

I just picked up Hitchhiker's Guide last night. Just finished Memoirs of a Geisha and I'm in need of some laughter. I hear it's pretty good... can't wait to get started on it.

PeterL

06-03-2006, 03:44 PM

I just picked up Hitchhiker's Guide last night. Just finished Memoirs of a Geisha and I'm in need of some laughter. I hear it's pretty good... can't wait to get started on it.

The Hitchiker's Guide isn't very funny. If you want some great laughs, find Alumunum Man by G.C. Edmondson.

EAP

06-04-2006, 03:56 PM

Edit: Doh de doh

Satine

06-05-2006, 11:10 AM

Um, ok. I got through about half of the Hitchhiker's guide in an hour, and it was so dumb I closed it and put it away. Don't know why, but I couldn't stand it... I have too many other really awesome books to read.

Padan Fain

06-05-2006, 11:28 AM

it's over rated, but still pretty funny and worth the read. that said, if you want humor, pick up terry pratchet, particularly the night watch books. guards, guards in particular...

Woland

06-07-2006, 02:43 AM

Some have mentioned Lovecraft. His earlier works were derivative of his favorite authors, Poe and Dunsany. His later stories Call of Cthulhu, At The Mountains of Madness, The Dunwich Horror for example, were much better. His themes and interests are similiar to Kafka's in many respects, only written in an abused genre.

earthboar

06-07-2006, 11:16 AM

Kurt Vonnegut? He put the fun back into the short story.
Honore de Balzac? His Droll Stories is full of treasure.
I'm glad Tolkien's popularity has risen these past few years. When I was in high school, only dweebs like myself read LOTR.

Taime

06-08-2006, 11:38 AM

Wayne Sharrocks
Storm Constantine
Patrick Suskind

Manfred

06-13-2006, 07:10 AM

Dashiell Hammett-- Although typically viewed as "low" fiction, Hammett virtually created the modern detective story as we know it. Previous mysteries were straight whodunnits, more or less; brain-teasers for the bored.
Hammett added multiple plotlines, character depth, and evocative description to his work, dragging the mystery into mainstream acceptance.

Sinclair Lewis-- Overshadowed now by such contemporaries as Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, Hemingway, and Faulkner, he was a giant in his own time. He won the Pulitzer prize in 1926 for "Arrowsmith," and was the first American to win the Nobel prize in literature--which he rejected. Some of his greatest works include, "Main Street," "Babbit," and "Elmer Gantry."

PeterL

06-13-2006, 08:21 AM

Dashiell Hammett-- Although typically viewed as "low" fiction, Hammett virtually created the modern detective story as we know it. Previous mysteries were straight whodunnits, more or less; brain-teasers for the bored.
Hammett added multiple plotlines, character depth, and evocative description to his work, dragging the mystery into mainstream acceptance.

Agreed. Although Hammett wrote some pretty simple-minded crime stories, some of his novels were far better, and he knew how to put words together.

Manfred

06-14-2006, 07:20 AM

Agreed. Although Hammett wrote some pretty simple-minded crime stories, some of his novels were far better, and he knew how to put words together.

American mystery writers of his era had little to say about the plots of their short stories. The magazines they wrote for had formulas that had to be adhered to. Once freed from these conventions however, Hammet showed himself to be better than the other hacks--and to have a higher understanding than his editors of what the public wanted.
Among other things, "The Maltese Falcon" introduced the femme fatale and the anti-hero. It was different at the time, and exciting. This is still a very good novel, and if one can divorce oneself from the image of the Bogart movie--one of my favorites, by the way--it is worth reading on it's own merits.

Eufrosyne

06-14-2006, 12:06 PM

Emile Zola, mostly l'assomoir, Therese Raquin and le bete humain. He really writes in a realistic and very descriptive way!

PeterL

06-14-2006, 12:20 PM

American mystery writers of his era had little to say about the plots of their short stories. The magazines they wrote for had formulas that had to be adhered to. Once freed from these conventions however, Hammet showed himself to be better than the other hacks--and to have a higher understanding than his editors of what the public wanted.
Among other things, "The Maltese Falcon" introduced the femme fatale and the anti-hero. It was different at the time, and exciting. This is still a very good novel, and if one can divorce oneself from the image of the Bogart movie--one of my favorites, by the way--it is worth reading on it's own merits.

His short stories were generally by a formula, but his novels were vastly superior. Red Harvest and The Dain Curse are great. The original novel of The Thin Man is also very good. The Maltese Falcon was very well done also, and the movie follows the novel very closely.