Sorry, Hemingway, but I can't get into your books :) Whilst I admire that you get to the point, it's kind of hard to read something like that. x
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Sorry, Hemingway, but I can't get into your books :) Whilst I admire that you get to the point, it's kind of hard to read something like that. x
It is amazing how many times Hemingway has been chosen! As far as I know, his reputation among scholars and academics is quite low.
Faulkner!!i just don't get him!i struggle to read his novels just to find myself puzzled at the end,not being quite sure what it was about!
My nomination would be Henry Miller. Seriously. Maybe I'm missing the point of his work, but surely producing a scandal shouldn't be all there is to it...
Hawthorne - at least House of the Seven Gables really vexed me. I think there was something there, but could never quite place it. Maybe I was too young, it was some years ago, but if I try it again and it has a similar effect, I don't know what I may be driven to do...
I have him on my mind. But no, I decided to try again :). I'd hate if I missed something great out of Faulkner just because my experience with Absalom Absalom.Quote:
Originally Posted by sunshine_enl
As a Hemingway fan, I'd be interested in hearing why people find him overrated? As far as I'm concerned, he has written four classic novels and a number of classic short stories.
His style did vary. He became famous for his detachment as a narrator and working with implied feelings, but give For Whom the Bell Tolls a try if you want Hemingway in another mood, a novel filled with descriptions and inner thinking of its main characters. It also deals explicitly with a number of moral themes.
Old Man and the Sea is Hem at his most sentimental, but it's a beautiful story. And the best of the lot would probably be A Farewell to Arms.
I'm just trying to say that he did not always write in the same manner. If you've never given him a try, look up Indian Camp online and get a feel for his traditionally terse yet highly rich prose.
Hemingway rocks.
Gertrude Stein is COMPLETELY OVERRATED. I do not care how many critics insist that she is some founding member of modernism - her writing is terrible!
I honestly, REALLY second every word in that quote...Quote:
Originally Posted by Redzeppelin
couldn't really put it any better myself!
Heminway is the schiznet!
Shakespeare is the most overrated :D.
Let me inject Paulo Coelho, unless of course we are only supposed to be bashing classic authors. The Alchemist is not even suitable for a boat anchor. It is definitely below any classical author mentioned here.
Before I start I'll admit that what I say may have been said on this thread many times already but I only read a few pages back (partly because of time restrictions and partly because my laptop has decided that every time I go somewhere on the internet it's going to open a new window...I don't know if I've accidently changed the settings or my laptop's just having an off day...anyway).
Firstly, it really isn't fair to put authors like J.K.Rowling and Stephenie Meyer in this thread since they are not highly rated in the first place so can't really be overrated. It's like saying junk-food is overrated! Nobody says it's nutritious but sometimes it's nice to indulge. But you can't compare it with a really good meal from a nice restaurant.
Secondly, as for the question, I'm not sure who to pick. There are novels I've read that I didn't feel lived up to the hype but whether they are overrated or I just didn't enjoy them personally is hard to say. I think I'll add my vote to Joyce (partly because I'm currently studying for my Modern Lit exam and I can see Ulysses sitting on my bed...)
I'll admit that all I have read of Joyce is Ulysses so I may be judging him unfairly. I can also admit that there is some merit to the novel but it reads like an experiment. A really really really long experiment. I'm glad I read it but mainly because I feel like it's something you can hold up as an achievement. I feel like it would be the same if I ran a marathon; I wouldn't enjoy it but I'd be proud I did it. ;)
I think when Virginia Woolf wrote Mrs Dalloway she said something about taking Joyce's idea but making it actually work or doing it better or something. I completely agree. Ulysses is pretty interesting as an experiment but, for me, as a novel it doesn't really work.
Wait! Scrap my last post because I know who I think the most overrated writer EVER is. I can't believe I didn't think of him before. Wordsworth. I absolutely fail to see how he got his position in the literary canon! Unlike writers such as Joyce or Fitzgerald or Emily Bronte, who's works I don't like as much as their hype but can see some merit in, I don't see anything in any way special about Wordsworth.
It's not because I think he was a pompous, arrogant arse - which I do - but I don't see one thing that makes his writing more worthy than thousands of other mediocre poets. I thought for a long time that I just didn't like the romantic poets but then I read some others and I do. I LOVE Blake and I really enjoy some of Coleridge and I'll have a read through some Shelley now and then but I just can't stand Wordsworth.
I know people have been criticised on this thread for throwing out a writer of well repute and then leaving at that with no explanation so I'm trying to think how I can best justify my opinion. The problem, mainly, is that that is just it with Wordsworth...there's nothing. He leaves me cold. I feel like there's no feeling in his poetry whatsoever and I can't even say I think he's technically good. I feel like he was a poet who tried to make up for a lack of quality with quantity. His poetry seems longer than it needs to be (I know I said something similar about Joyce and thought I'd clarify; I have no problem with a text being long if it needs to be but I think needless length is one of the biggest sins writers commit) and padded out with...nothing. It's all so nothingy.
I know that hasn't been very explanatory, more like a rant, but after my last exam tomorrow I'll maybe dig up some Wordsworth and give examples of what I mean.
he appears to have weird feelings for nature in Nutting
If he isn't the worst, then Wordsworth is certainly near the top of the list.