LitNet Top 100 Authors!

[bazarov]

So, after 4 months of voting; I believe some relevant list could be made.
Here it goes; LitNet Top 100 Authors!


1.Dostoevsky
2.Shakespeare
3.Dickens
4.Tolstoy
5.Steinbeck
6.-7.
Austen
Proust
8.-11.
Nabokov
Hemingway
Hardy
Joyce
12.-16.
Hugo
Dante
Faulkner
Kafka
Tolkien
17. -20.
Homer
Wilde
Pushkin
Brontte, Charlotte
21.-24.
Orwell
Salinger
Fitzgerald
Elliot
25. – 49.
Murakami
Turgenev
Marquez
Ibsen
Conrad
Beckett
Stevenson
Vonnegut
Ellis
Milton
Goethe
Lawrence
Gogol
Poe
Keats
Doyle
Selimovic
Eco
Woolf
Heese
Twain
Lewis
Gaskell
Camus
Krleža
50. – 100.
London
Williams
Yesenin
Bradbury
Wilder
James
Lermontov
Chesterton
White
Fowles
Christie
Bellow
Bronte, Emily
Zola
Flaubert
Leopardi
Shaw
Bamkinchandra
Ovid
Racine
Amarnath
Cooper
Whitman
Caragiale
Norris
Sinclair
Solzhenytsin
Scott
Carr
Moliere
Laxness
Auster
Roth
Platho
Sexton
Chaucer
Maugham
Yeats
Hamsun
Sartre
Colfer
Remarque
Adams
Aesop
Blake
Sienkiewicz
Euripides
Swift
Elton
Sharpe
Nietzsche
Tagore
Dreiser
Carter
Synge



--------------------------------


Authors that share place have same number of votes. It would be unfair to say that someone is better if they are equal - so they share position; in random order.

[Petronius]

Umm... as far as I can tell (mostly from Mortalterror's count in the original thread) all authors from 50-100 only got one vote, so how come they are all on the list, but three of mine are missing? :rolleyes: By what standards was the selection made?

[mayneverhave]

I wonder how the inclusive 50-100 section ranks the writers, or whether it is an arbitrary listing.

[bazarov]

From 50. till end - they all got same number of votes - one. Thats why I didn't rank them as 51st, 52nd because it would be unfair.

[Petronius]

Thank you for the correction.

[onioneater]

Who the crap voted for Virginia Woolf? BARF. Oh, sorry. Was that too obvious about how I feel about her writing?

[Bumbeli]

Nice list, thanks for putting so much effort into that.
I really like to see Dostoevsky and Tolstoy so high, and I'm quite surprised Nabokov is so high too.

[no one special]

This is a joke, right? Dickens above Joyce, Proust, Woolf and Lawrence? That's really funny. Orwell in the top 30? That's funny too. Ellis? Brett Easton? OK, I geddit - it's meant tuh beh funneh. Ha, Ha, Help!

[Niamh]

Can we please respect the over all choices of the forum? What one person dislikes does not mean another has to. there is quaility in all lit.
Thank you.

[Nikhar]

Christie's so low! It's a bit shocking!

[islandclimber]

Interesting List... But...

?!?!?!?!

Where are writers like Borges, Chekhov, Calvino, Melville, Llosa, Cortazar, Bulgakov, Gorky, Rushdie, Irving, Balzac, Cao Xueqin, Luo Guanzhong, Ba Jin, Narayan, etc???? this list neglects South America and Asia completely... I know it's only a list and all, but it's just surprising at how Western-centred it is...

[JBI]

Interesting List... But...

?!?!?!?!

Where are writers like Borges, Chekhov, Calvino, Melville, Llosa, Cortazar, Bulgakov, Gorky, Rushdie, Irving, Balzac, Cao Xueqin, Luo Guanzhong, Ba Jin, Narayan, etc???? this list neglects South America and Asia completely... I know it's only a list and all, but it's just surprising at how Western-centred it is...

In concept - but it isn't the "best 100" authors list, but the "highest voted" 100 authors list. In reality, I suspect few people have heard of Luo Guanzhong, let alone gotten through the whole Romance of the Three Kingdoms, much less Ba Jin - as far as I know, too, there aren't many widely available translations of Dream of Red Mansions - the translation I got was a moderate propaganda version from the 70s put out by the Chinese institutions, with at least a half dozen quotes by Chairman Mao, who was still living then I believe, in the introduction, and not to mention all the names in Wade-Gilles, which made them impossible to remember. Strangely enough though, the translators, Gladys and Yang Xianyi, who are supposedly noteworthy translators. Penguin supposedly put out a copy in the 90s, but it's only 300 pages!

That is, of course, no excuse to exclude Li Bei, or Su Shi, or even the most important, Confucius, yet I think few here really know much about non-English literature, with the exception of a few Russian classics, and perhaps a couple German and French titles thrown in for good measure.

[mortalterror]

In concept - but it isn't the "best 100" authors list, but the "highest voted" 100 authors list. In reality, I suspect few people have heard of Luo Guanzhong, let alone gotten through the whole Romance of the Three Kingdoms, much less Ba Jin - as far as I know, too, there aren't many widely available translations of Dream of Red Mansions - the translation I got was a moderate propaganda version from the 70s put out by the Chinese institutions, with at least a half dozen quotes by Chairman Mao, who was still living then I believe, in the introduction, and not to mention all the names in Wade-Gilles, which made them impossible to remember. Strangely enough though, the translators, Gladys and Yang Xianyi, who are supposedly noteworthy translators. Penguin supposedly put out a copy in the 90s, but it's only 300 pages!

That is, of course, no excuse to exclude Li Bei, or Su Shi, or even the most important, Confucius, yet I think few here really know much about non-English literature, with the exception of a few Russian classics, and perhaps a couple German and French titles thrown in for good measure.

The Master said: "The wise are without perplexity; the good are without sorrow; the brave are without fear."

I have read Confucius. Plato is better. Also, I have a two volume copy of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The other day I put it out on the sell back pile I keep for used books, along with The Tale of Gengi. I was taking too long to get through them and didn't think I'd want to schedule them into my line up this year. Meanwhile, they were just taking up space. By the way, you are right. The Penguin version of Dream of the Red Chamber is only 300 pages, in 6 volumes.

[JBI]

I have read Confucius. Plato is better. Also, I have a two volume copy of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The other day I put it out on the sell back pile I keep for used books, along with The Tale of Gengi. I was taking too long to get through them and didn't think I'd want to schedule them into my line up this year and they were just taking up space. By the way, you are right. The Penguin version of Dream of the Red Chamber is only 300 pages, in 6 volumes.

Ah, you are right, my apologies - didn't realize they were printing it under an alternative title (The Golden Days) - mixed it up with this edition http://www.amazon.com/Dream-Red-Chamber-Tsao-Hsueh-Chin/dp/0385093799/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247366833&sr=8-1

As for Plato being better - as a philosopher, perhaps, as an anthologist, perhaps not - I am quite fond of much of the book of Songs, for instance.

It doesn't matter though - both are quite important. As for The Romance - I hear they have a huge television series from the 70s on youtube of it, which essentially captures everything in the novel - perhaps you may look into that.

[mortalterror]

As for The Romance - I hear they have a huge television series from the 70s on youtube of it, which essentially captures everything in the novel - perhaps you may look into that.

Perhaps I'll check it out, but I'd rather read the books and I don't find their styles at all unlikeable. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is very laconic, direct, and action packed. The Dream of the Red Chamber is luxurious, poetic, and beautiful. I'd just rather finish up my ancient world studies and then move on to the Shahnameh, which I'm loving. As for Genji, I wasn't really enjoying that anyway.

[JBI]

Perhaps I'll check it out, but I'd rather read the books and I don't find their styles at all unlikeable. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is very laconic, direct, and action packed. The Dream of the Red Chamber is luxurious, poetic, and beautiful. I'd just rather finish up my ancient world studies and then move on to the Shahnameh, which I'm loving. As for Genji, I wasn't really enjoying that anyway.

What translation of Dream do you have?

[mortalterror]

What translation of Dream do you have?

I don't actually own a copy of that one. I just borrowed one from the library and read the first hundred pages or so. It was the Penguin translation http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140442936/ref=s9_simz_gw_s0_p14_i2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1BJ80NAVNFKM18D7JXMY&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846 with that lovely Chinese painting on the cover.

[islandclimber]

this is the copy I have, and I think the one you mentioned earlier JBI from the time of Mao.. Hurrah for the Maoist propaganda machine..

http://www.amazon.com/Dream-Red-Mansions-Set-BOX/dp/7119006436/ref=pd_sim_b_1

[JBI]

this is the copy I have, and I think the one you mentioned earlier JBI from the time of Mao.. Hurrah for the Maoist propaganda machine..

http://www.amazon.com/Dream-Red-Mansions-Set-BOX/dp/7119006436/ref=pd_sim_b_1

Yeah, I read that one, though my copy, from the library, was severely beat down - I think I'll see if my university has a copy of the Penguin edition and reread it - Mortal, how are the translations of the names? Are they using the new system or old (you can tell, if you don't know how, by looking to see if there are " ' " marks in the names, and weird combos like "hs").

[mortalterror]

Yeah, I read that one, though my copy, from the library, was severely beat down - I think I'll see if my university has a copy of the Penguin edition and reread it - Mortal, how are the translations of the names? Are they using the new system or old (you can tell, if you don't know how, by looking to see if there are " ' " marks in the names, and weird combos like "hs").

Honestly, it was two years ago and I don't fully remember. What I do recall was that gnarly old monk dude and the stone and that boy who would only calm down around girls. I think I stopped about the time he goes to sleep in like his aunt's bedroom and has this vision.

[Paulclem]

I suppose lists like these are useful in perhaps recomending good authors. I think they may say more about the people who engage in this forum than anything else.

[Cossack]

Great list.

[Lullaby]

This is a joke, right? Dickens above Joyce, Proust, Woolf and Lawrence? That's really funny. Orwell in the top 30? That's funny too. Ellis? Brett Easton? OK, I geddit - it's meant tuh beh funneh. Ha, Ha, Help!

What's wrong with Bret Easton Ellis? He may not be Tolstoy, but he is one of the major 'Generation X' authors!

[McGrain]

Any list that doesn't have Shakespeare at #1 may be a list fail...still, I wouldn't include drama for these purposes, personally, so i'm just going to ignore him and grumble about Joyce being so low...Joyce would be my #1 with Dostie and Tolstoy flanking him in any order.

Good stab though.

[mal4mac]

Any list that doesn't have Shakespeare at #1 may be a list fail...

Don't take it too seriously! It's just a rough list of what some people who use this forum might think. I think Shakespeare, Dickens, Cervantes, Tolstoy should be bumped above Dostoevsky, and maybe Chekhov (close call). If you are a Dostoevsky fan I challenge you to read Hamlet, Don Quixote (Grossman trans.), Tolstoy's Shorter Novels (Maude trans.), A book of Chekhov's best short stories & David Copperfield and tell me why Dostoevesky should be number 1 above these writers. By next week... :-)

I notice that Dostoevsky got bumped out of Columbia's Lit. Hum. course in favour of Austen - I might bump her above Dost. as well.

Why's Hemingway so high? Hardy and several others should surely be above him.

[Griffith]

Is Kafka superior than Goethe?
http://ihasahotdog.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/funny-dog-pictures-laughing-at-little-girl.jpg

[bazarov]

Unbelievable. A literature forum.

[balehead]

If you are a Dostoevsky fan I challenge you to read Hamlet, Don Quixote (Grossman trans.), Tolstoy's Shorter Novels (Maude trans.), A book of Chekhov's best short stories & David Copperfield and tell me why Dostoevesky should be number 1 above these writers. By next week... :-).

I have read all of these; and believe Dostoyevsky to be the superior writer, the reason being that I merely took more enjoyment from his delving into the human nature and his writing style, plus, seeing as the results were voted for, it is clear that Dostoyevsky knew how to please a large majority of people with his writing, as you can never win everyone over, but he is the person with the most rallying for him.

[breathtest]

I think perhaps William Blake should be higher in the rankings. But apart from that it is a fantastic list

[SophieB]

Not sure if you're familiar with some brilliant Australian authors such as Tim Winton, Peter Carey, David Malouf, Patrick White. There has to be at least one aussie on the list! :rolleyes:

[Apathy]

why isn't Piers Anthony on this?!

[IceM]

Is it me, or is Jane Austen way above where she should be? I read Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Mansfield (Insert other name nere, forgot) and I thought it was poor. Tolstoy should be a few slots lower.

Where's Thoreau? (Walden) Or Melville? A few complaints on my part, but then again, I wasn't here to vote.

[Red-Headed]

Is it me, or is Jane Austen way above where she should be?

You forget IceM that the Janeites are legion. Like Firefox fanboys they are everywhere. I bet most of them voted more than once. I am fairly sure Edgar Allen Poe lived not far from Austen at one stage in his life. I could just imagine them meeting as children & *scrumping apples together or something. She would be blabbering on about which gentleman farmer she would most likely marry when she grew up & Poe probably scaring the living crap out of her with some creepy story about the undead headless squire from hell.


*English dialect for stealing apples from orchards. (from dialect 'scrump' meaning withered apples.)

[genji]

Interesting List... But...

?!?!?!?!

Where are writers like... Calvino...

I noticed this omission on the bestest ever I luv top 100 books. It's basically a list of 'what books should I be seen to advocate?' from the kind of people who haven't been driven away by the hostile, belittling environment this forum generates. No appreciation of other people's points of view or tastes, just 'how can I be seen to be the most erudite and cle-ver person on the forum?'.

I mean, how up your own arse do you have to be, not only to have such a list, but to actually tell people on the internet that you have this list:

"If I look at my own list of 150 favorite films I have LotR at #46 and Lawrence at #58"?

{edit}

Talk about inclusive. Best not, eh?

[sammyuk]

Calm down my friend.

[ennison]

Calm! Calm!!! Whaddyamean calm?? Surely a new and unnatural experience for some!!!

My! Pheww! That's got some exclamation marks off my chest.

[Amoxcalli]

Just out of curiosity, may I ask why Alighieri is the only author to not be listed by his surname?

Sure, he's more famous by his first name (Dante), but in libraries and book stores you'll (often) find him at the A, not D.


The list itself looks good to me. I haven't read all, so I can't really judge, but those I have read seem to be suitably ranked. I may have put Salinger a bit lower in favour of Eco or Marquez, but otherwise, great list!

[bazarov]

Just out of curiosity, may I ask why Alighieri is the only author to not be listed by his surname?

Sure, he's more famous by his first name (Dante), but in libraries and book stores you'll (often) find him at the A, not D.



Very interesting question :thumbs_up
Well, when I was in high school, we use to call him just Dante, although I knew and all the others probably knew his surname was Aligheri. Why was that like that - I don't know. Same is with Michelangelo, although I am not sure many people do know that Bounarotti is his surname :D
So they live in our memories and culture like just Dante and just Michelangelo. A bit unfair; probably.

[Amoxcalli]

Very interesting question :thumbs_up
Well, when I was in high school, we use to call him just Dante, although I knew and all the others probably knew his surname was Aligheri. Why was that like that - I don't know. Same is with Michelangelo, although I am not sure many people do know that Bounarotti is his surname :D
So they live in our memories and culture like just Dante and just Michelangelo. A bit unfair; probably.

And they're not the only ones. History plays tricks with names like that. Often, when asked the first name of Caesar, people will say Julius, while it was Gaius, of course. The painter Caravaggio was in fact called Michelangelo and only became known as Caravaggio (his place of birth) when he moved to Rome, where his namesake had a far bigger reputation. There's Dante and the Michelangelo, of course. Rembrandt is another artist who is known by his first name (his full name being Rembrandt van Rijn). Then there are the numerous artists who created under a pseudonym.

In the case of Dante, my uneducated guess is that Dante simply has a nice, clear ring to it, where Alighieri is just another Italian surname. Like Kafka and (in my opinion) Sartre, it's just a pleasant name to say. Alighieri less so. I'd be interested in hearing an educated guess/theory though!

(on a slightly related note, the bias is definitely there, since my spelling checker knows "Dante", but not "Alighieri")

[sammyuk]

I've always found Sartre is a horrible name to say. Doesn't roll off the tongue at all. Lucky for me, I don't have to say it very often :)

[Desolation]

I've always found Sartre is a horrible name to say. Doesn't roll off the tongue at all. Lucky for me, I don't have to say it very often :)

Well, maybe you have the pronunciation wrong. I pronounced his name Sarter for a while before my philosophy teacher corrected me and said that the correct pronunciation is Sart, which is much easier to say.

I'm still getting used to calling Camus Caemoo rather than Caemus.

[OrphanPip]

Well, maybe you have the pronunciation wrong. I pronounced his name Sarter for a while before my philosophy teacher corrected me and said that the correct pronunciation is Sart, which is much easier to say.

I'm still getting used to calling Camus Caemoo rather than Caemus.

It's more like Sar-tre pronounced very quickly together, but Sart is a close approximation for English speakers because they usually stumble over the two rolled Rs.

A name I've heard pronounced innumerable different ways is Nietzsche, I'm still not entirely sure of the proper pronunciation.

Edit: I made a little 30 second recording of the pronunciation of Sartre and Camus in my embarrassingly nasal voice:

http://www.zshare.net/download/716575822b61d6c3/

you can also hear my bird singing in the background haha :p

[keilj]

I'm going to pretend that the Lewis on the list is Sinclair and not C.S.

Sinclair Lewis is one of the top 10 American authors of all time

[Travis_R]

Why is Joyce so low?
Same with the top 100 books list, there is no way in hell that Ulysses is number 42.

[kilo]

I'm glad Murakami got on :)

[jet.thursday]

i'm so happy to see Murakami on the list. though i also want to see Confucius there, he's real great too.

[englishpk]

Actually such lists are made under some criterion which may vary from organization to organization. Therefore, people, sometimes, don't agree with such ranking. To me the list is nice giving every writer his or her right place.

[fb0252]

Minor cardiac event seeing Shaekspeare at #2. But, this explains. Steinbeck at #5, and Chaucer at #90 or so. This is a joke, right?

[Taliesin]

The list isn't exactly the same as my personal list would be, four authors are off by one place, two by two places and one even by four places! Why, I ask you, is that author off by four places? This list is absurd, ridiculous and a joke! What kind of illiterate idiot would make such a list?!

[fb0252]

some of it is opinion, but some ratings are factually accurate. Rating Shakespeare #1 by any standard of rational judgment, and, ommitting second rate literary pretenders such as Steinbeck off of a list of top #100 books where inclusion of such jeopardizes credibility of the entire list. If you see such a list and Steinbeck at #5, what are you to make of the list, and who it was that voted on it?

[Babak Movahed]

I already I'm going to get some pissed of American Lit major come after me for this, but does Steinbeck really deserve to be 5th on this list?


Just my opinion.

[Motherof8]

Does anyone like Louisa may Alcott?

Motherof8

[Dekarto]

Interesting that almost none of the most popular contemporary writers are on this list, except for Murakami.

[Kyriakos]

In my view Joyce doesnt deserve to be so high.
But i am very biased, because i had only (tried to) read Ulysses, which after some chapters becomes utterly unreadable in my view :)

[Iwanuschka]

A name I've heard pronounced innumerable different ways is Nietzsche, I'm still not entirely sure of the proper pronunciation.

Nee - ts (like in beats) - she (like in Sherlock), stress on the nee

[MrsPeterson]

Newbie Here.

Has anyone seen the episode of Two and a Half Men where Allen has a freak attack in the bookstore over his lack of reading of the classics...............well, I feel very much the same just now after having read the list.

Good Lord where will I find the time to whittle that list down ? And how on earth did I get to this age and not have checked off more of those names?

What a wonderful group of people I have found.

[.Kafka]

I cannot believe Nietzsche is so far below in the list. His prose is remarkable, explosive, and it glimmers with insights into the human condition. Dickens may very well be an excellent story-teller, but I would reconsider in placing him in the top 10 authors of all time. What has his contribution been to society? A portrayal of the sordidness of industrial London?


i'm so happy to see Murakami on the list. though i also want to see Confucius there, he's real great too.

I agree, Murakami is an innovative writer. Kafka on the Shore is one of my favorite novels even though the story is tedious in certain parts.

Furthermore, any list of literary authors sans Gabriel Garcia Marquez must have serious flaws. I suppose this list indicates the culture and exposure of its audience.

It is interesting that the vast majority of the writers in this list are either European or American. Coetzee is also deserving.

[Patrick_Bateman]

****in' Dickens

[Emil Miller]

I Dickens may very well be an excellent story-teller, but I would reconsider in placing him in the top 10 authors of all time. What has his contribution been to society? A portrayal of the sordidness of industrial London?

You underestimate Dickens. It was because he pointed up the sordidness of industrial life, that reforms were eventually enacted to alleviate the problem.

[the facade]

I'm happy Steinbeck made it so high :)

[WyattGwyon]

I don't understand this obsession with lists and ratings. Is there really any point in comparing Dickens and Joyce and ranking them in relative terms? What a bizarre notion!

[Aragorn Elessar]

I don't understand this obsession with lists and ratings. Is there really any point in comparing Dickens and Joyce and ranking them in relative terms? What a bizarre notion!

I agree, there's really no point in it. But, hey, it can be fun. :party:

[FROADS]

I don't understand this obsession with lists and ratings. Is there really any point in comparing Dickens and Joyce and ranking them in relative terms? What a bizarre notion!

Co-sign, a lot of those writers were unique in their own way...Different styles suitable to a variety of genres.

[Trying]

i may have missed his name but no Kerouac?

[Darcy88]

Hate to dump on the list like so many others have, but come on! No Cervantes? I checked three times, I must be blind. Someone tell me I missed it, please. I'm just going to pretend that I did.

[bazarov]

You could hardly believe, but outside of USA American writers are not very high rated.

[Lord Macbeth]

You could hardly believe, but outside of USA American writers are not very high rated.

I'd believe that...though I think Twain, Poe, Hemmingway, and maybe Dickenson and Tennessee Williams hold some clout overseas, Twain honored overseas, ditto Hemmingway, Poe and Dickenson have more European styles, and Williams is a playwright and those tend to do better across the Podn, I think than HERE (sadly.)

And as much as I respect Dostoyevsky...Shakespeare should be #1, I'm sorry...

[Cdh]

Simply put, quantitative measures of qualitative expereinces are never going to hit the mark completly. As for people getting upset about authors being a place or two off where they think they should be, that's just being silly. I love that this disscussion exists. As someone who is just getting back into reading after years of being rather crule to my brain I must say I found the list a vluable resource. So from a new member to this forum, thankyou very much.

[ZiggyStardust]

Hooray Steinbeck! :D

[ZiggyStardust]

I agree, there's really no point in it. But, hey, it can be fun. :party:

But not as fun as it would be to see these authors face off in a "Celebrity Deathmatch" haha!

[Wittyusername]

Happy to see Dostoevsky on top, though i do think Nietzsche deserves more than 1 vote.

[Ancasta]

Yea for Thomas Hardy!

[hampusforev]

Dostoevsky no. 1? Let me sneer snidely

[Otokonoko]

Hooray for Dostoevsky! He caused me so much pain when I was a uni student - the sort of pain one remembers fondly in the years to follow ... Sadly, I see some of these authors as 'bucket list entries' - people whose books I should read, but don't really enjoy. Finishing Heart of Darkness, for example, gave me a sense of achievement but very little satisfaction. I knew that I had read something important and very worthy, but didn't feel any richer for the experience.

I didn't notice. Was Joseph Conrad even on the list? He usually shows up on these sorts of things.

[hampusforev]

You could hardly believe, but outside of USA American writers are not very high rated.

That is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. I'm from Sweden and here we appreciate Hemingway, Faulkner, Steinbeck, Emily Dickinson, Whitman, Melville just as highly as Dostoevsky or anybody else (or higher as in my case). American literature is extremely diverse and has some of the finest and some of the worst writers ever.

[Kundan]

quite a comprehensive list. would help me in picking books

[hanzklein]

I disagree with the list immensely, then again I don't take these things seriously.

[Bobo Vrba]

Krleža? I would rather put Danilo Kiš.
:)

[ChristopherAP]

That is an impressive list, the only problem is I don't think anyone should be put over Shakespeare, I do enjoy Fyodor though. It is sad to see the amount of people commenting who are exemplifying a remonstrance against Virginia Woolf, it makes me doubt if these people really know anything about good Literature.

[FrancoisG]

Why do you close the vote ?

[j_mo1492]

Is anyone else a big fan of Robert Olen Butler? He won the Pulitzer in '93 for "A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain" and his new book "A Small Hotel" looks amazing. I love how he manages to keep reinventing himself.

[soniat]

yes great list ...This discrepancy confirms that book-purchasers and book-borrowers, if not exactly distinct communities, are separated by huge gaps of age, preference and prejudice....

[kinesj]

I would have Faulkner at the top, followed by Kafka, Dostoyevsky, and Joyce in any order then Shakespeare rounding out the top 5. I realize Shakespeare at 5 is borderline seditious to many of you, but all of the aforementioned are writers of prodigious talent, with my order predicated on the degree to which they inspired me.

[magictrick]

I say this in the nicest way possible, but I stopped reading after I saw Shakespeare at #2...

[CarpeNixta]

Very interesting, thank you for enlisting so many authors I'll have to treat me some christmas presents from this list

[naneyf]

There're so many authors I like very much!

[charlieh]

Do modern day story tellers count in all of this? While this is a literature forum the question was best authors. I put in my vote for Stieg Larrson, and J.K. Rowling. You can all laugh at my choices but I believe them to be valid.

[bazarov]

That is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. I'm from Sweden and here we appreciate Hemingway, Faulkner, Steinbeck, Emily Dickinson, Whitman, Melville just as highly as Dostoevsky or anybody else (or higher as in my case). American literature is extremely diverse and has some of the finest and some of the worst writers ever.

Thank you for your observation. I didn't say that they are bad, I am just pointing that in other parts of world (because this is mostly USA based forum) people more prefer other writers and thus, list is like it is. Remember, people voted for it and the results are here. They were pretty expected to me, to be honest.

[bazarov]

Krleža? I would rather put Danilo Kiš.
:)

Pa nije imao dovoljno glasova, samo jedan ili tako nešto, nedovoljno za ulaz na listu :biggrin5:

[bazarov]

Do modern day story tellers count in all of this? While this is a literature forum the question was best authors. I put in my vote for Stieg Larrson, and J.K. Rowling. You can all laugh at my choices but I believe them to be valid.

Everyone was included.

[Prairie]

Just that list is enough to give you hope.

[Tallulah]

I don't really understand why some people are getting so bent out of shape over this list. Of course everyone isn't going to agree on best authors (or books). I look at it as a starting point. There are some authors that I personally would've placed higher, or lower, but there are also some that I'm not familiar with. Looking forward to checking them out and see if I like them as well.

[Luther102]

Thank you for the correction.http://www.hergoods.info/avatar2.jpg

[hodsnikly]

it is very helpful for me !thanks!

[nouh]

THank youuu

[Brielle92]

So glad to see Dostoevsky, Dickens and Tolstoy where they are. And Jane Austen's my second favourite author but I think it's hilarious that she's in sixth place. Captain Wentworth anyone?

[Anymodal]

The first five should be:
1. Homer
2. Virgil
3. Dante
4. Cervantes
5. Shakespeare

It seems to me that we can debate about the order but I don't see others in the top five :P

[Sydneysider]

No Sophocles??? All Top 100 lists are bogus.

Why the need to rate people at all?

[Corona]

What about Cocteau and Gide? Noone's mentioned them, if I'm not mistaken.

[Andrew Mcleod]

This essentially is a highest voted list but still a very nice ranking.