who is the most overrated writer ever?

Ok my last post was actually just a reply to rabid_reader, but I forgot to quote :)

But to add my say into this muddle of writers who did more than I ever have, I would say that Cormac McCarthy is just one author I cannot quite grasp where his praise comes from. Maybe I need only to read other pieces of fiction, but after reading the reviews and comments on 'The Road' I picked it up and after a day put it down sadly discouraged. I was eager to finish it, hence the short time of reading it took, because I was looking for the proof of his praises. I think mainly I just didn't "get it"

As for some of the other authors on here, I am slightly saddened at the choices, not liking a book and not being able to appreciate its impact are very different things. I say this mainly pertaining to Kerouac. He was not the most talented writer, and certainly not the most creative... but he influenced an entire generation of beat writers, poets and citizens. I suppose it spoke to them at the time and so he deserves his praise, much like Britney Spears deserves recognition for single handlely starting a young female pop/stripper phase :)

But seriously, Kundera... Salinger... these men are amazing ;) That is all a matter of personal preference though.

The absolute worst writer I could think of is Alodous Huxley! Brave New World is so bad that i threw up a little in my mouth after finishing it. The entire time I was reading it I was thinking "when is this going to get good?"... it didn't get good at all.

I quite liked Brave New World

In my modest opinion it`s Leo Tolstoy. His style is awkward, his morals are hopelessly out of date, his books aren`t teaching, they`re preaching.

Socrates. Socrates is the most overrated writer ever.

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Originally Posted by Drkshadow03

Socrates. Socrates is the most overrated writer ever.

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Socrates is not known to have written anything that survived. Did you mean Plato? If so, then why? Or was it because of a particular translator?

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Originally Posted by PeterL

Socrates is not known to have written anything that survived. Did you mean Plato? If so, then why? Or was it because of a particular translator?

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I am well aware Socrates never wrote anything. Heh. I guess I flubbed that attempt at a nonsensical/ironic joke. :blush:

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Originally Posted by dejosc

im 100% sure that the most over rated writer is William Shakespeare, i mean come on its so dull. i dont care that its the basic for all literature ITS DULL

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We must be talking about a different Shakespeare. I always thought that the 'History Plays' were marvellous. Regardless of various historical inaccuracies. Some of the later plays are anything but dull. Mind you, I've never really rated his comedies, with the possible exception of The Merry Wives of Windsor. Although it's probably best to overlook the 'cheese-eating' jokes as they could be considered a tad racist now. Although Sir Hugh Evans probably deserved the cheese jibes. Many people don't even know why the Welsh are associated with eating cheese.

I find Orwell's work to be a bit overrated, along with Vonnegut. Now both these writers represent to me this flow of stiff excitement (a contradictory metaphor, eh? hehe) once lost when a reader discovers something of a different vision. The vision can be in multiples (and of different things) but with that said, I enjoyed Animal Farm, but not 1984, etc...

Leo Tolstoy is the worst author I have ever come across. He cannot write.

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Originally Posted by Mathor

Leo Tolstoy is the worst author I have ever come across. He cannot write.

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To each his own, but I can't bring myself to criticize authors when they've been translated, especially renowned ones like Tolstoy.

For me the most overrated would have to be Steinbeck - Mice and men had like four pages of back and forth with George and another ranch hand saying

"lenny's dumb."

"But he's got a good heart though."

"yeah if he wasn't so dumb." over and over. we get it, John. He's both good and dumb.

Other overrated writers - Pynchon, Joyce and of course, Steven King and JK Rowlings

I forgot Dickens! He's a decent story teller, but personally, I got nothing out of Great Expectations, and I had such great expectations for it.... Also Ayn Rand! I don't mind her ideas, but for an author who worships talent and ability, she doesn't have much.

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Originally Posted by breeze

In my modest opinion it`s Leo Tolstoy. His style is awkward, his morals are hopelessly out of date, his books aren`t teaching, they`re preaching.

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Agree! I'm still reading Anna Karenina(I started it one year ago and still didn't finish it!) and I just think while reading it - Why people love it so much? Why it ever became a classic? I don't say there aren't any interesting parts, but Levine's "speeches"(that appear in every five pages, at least and last like 20 pages) have nothing to do with the plot - it doesn't add depth to the characters nor anything at all.

Leo Tolstoy is the worst author I have ever come across. He cannot write.

I forgot Dickens! He's a decent story teller, but personally, I got nothing out of Great Expectations...

Other overrated writers - Pynchon, Joyce...

im 100% sure that the most over rated writer is William Shakespeare, i mean come on its so dull. i dont care that its the basic for all literature ITS DULL

:brickwall

luke, during my computer crash episodes and the infantile despair in between, I caught a series on Y Arts, Black Writers in America. One episode featured Ishmael Reed, and his critique of Harvard ran thus: "We all know the problem with these institutions; their curriculum is restrictive. I taught courses there, but I've also taught kids who know nothing of King Lear-- but they know Star Trek."

Maybe in contrast to this it would be interesting to examine Ross Douthat's sentiments.