Who is the worst writer ever? And to make it interesting rather than have everyone say Dean Koontz, who is the worst writer ever who is considered to be literary?
I'd nominate either Matthew Gregory Lewis, Theodore Dreiser, or Owen Wister.
:banana:
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Who is the worst writer ever? And to make it interesting rather than have everyone say Dean Koontz, who is the worst writer ever who is considered to be literary?
I'd nominate either Matthew Gregory Lewis, Theodore Dreiser, or Owen Wister.
:banana:
Hmm, what a difficult question to answer! I try to find a respect for all authors, published or unpublished, but I have come across a few writers who . . . well, I can understand how other people like them, but they just seem to write literature I cannot really enjoy.
I unintentionally offend people with questions like these since I have read VERY few science-fiction and fantasy books I enjoyed (Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein, being the only I can think of presently), but I hope not to upset anyone.
In works other than science-fiction and fantasy, however, I never cared a lot for Gore Vidal's writing. So much of his work seems too ambiguous and fashionably dark, if that makes sense.
Well, Mono, I must say! You have pressed all of my buttons, and I am now quite angry!
(just kidding)
Funny that mention should be made of Dean Koontz. Recently, I struck up a conversation with someone who was reading "Seize the Night" because I was curious about their reading preferences, and they GAVE me the book, saying they were finished with it.
I have never really read any popular current authors, so I was most curious to see what such a book might be like.
It looks like fun, at first glance.
My big "hang-up" is that I want everything that I read and write to explode with profound insight. I realize that such expectations are unrealistic. I have tried to rehabilitate myself through a number of clever tactics. One, of course, is to read all of Mono's posts (just kidding again, can you tell how angry I am, still!?)....
Seriously folks, being at this forum has opened my eyes to a whole new world, another world of reading interests. And now, this thread makes me realize that I must begin to dislike the Dean Koontz book which I received for free through an act of divine providence. I am so impressionable!
I actually visited Dean Koontz' website. I guess all famous authors have a website these days (even the dead ones). I know that I do (have a web site, that is).
I was reading a lot about Hemingway a little while back. Someone commented that the very last book to be published (posthumously) under Hemingway's name, from notes just before his death, is the worst writing to ever bear his name. I imagine Ernest was feeling a bit under the weather at the time. We cannot be at our best all of the time. Even God rested on the seventh day.
This suggests to me yet another forum thread, to debate the "Worst of the Best:" pick all the best writers and list their worst books. Note, the converse of that notion is unfeasible. We cannot pick all the worst writers and then list all their best books ("A Best of the Worst") for if they have at least one good book, why, then they were not so bad after all (ipso facto, q.e.d.)
Now, it suddenly occurs to me that IF there were only one person in the history of the world to ever write, and if they wrote only one book (and then moved in with Harper Lee), why, by definition, they would be both the best and the worst writer the world has ever known. Libraries would be very small. Book-of-the-Month clubs would be unknown.
But, if there were only TWO people in the history of the world to ever write a book, then one would have to be the best, and the other would win second prize as the worst.
Let us suppose, now, for the sake of argument, that there are an infinite number of universes (we shall call them, collectively, the Multiverse), tucked one inside another (in black holes), and in each universe there are an infinite number of inhabited worlds, but, in each of those worlds, there has appeared one and only one author, who writes one and only one book, which is perceived by that world to be both the best and the worst ever written. BUT, ruling over this hefty Metaverse of ours, with an all-seeing eye of omniscience (the other eye is covered by a pirate's patch), is a Supersoul Divinity, whose essence is all those little souls in all those worlds which ever were or will be (just as you and I are all the cells of our body which ever were or will be.) Now, the souls of all those one-and-only-authors who wrote those best-worst books comprise the MIND of the SuperSoul Divinity. These authors are eternally ranked and reaaranged in the Judgment-Day mind of our friendly neighborhood Divinity, from best to worst (and sometimes, from worst to best), but since they are infinite in number, this task takes some time. In fact, come to think of it, it is ceaseless. And this ceaseless activity is a form of circulation or resperation for the SuperSoul.
Ok... back from our trip to the critics' Twilight Zone.
Without a doubt it's Upton Sinclair.
I've always thought that people obscenely overrate Kafka too.
Sinclair's mother confided to me once that she rather like some of it.
Milan Kundera worships Kafka (or so it seems from "The Art of the Novel") and Nabokov liked Kafka too. We could compile a list of the worst writers beloved by excellent writers (or or authors who are simply "O.K.")
That would be me, me thinks.
all that writing sitaram and still no answer to whom you think is the worst writer ever...
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I agree with Kafka. I don't know if i'd say he was the worst, but he's one of the few that I've read and extremely disliked.
I love Kafka.
I am SO sorry, Sitaram. Being so admittedly . . . finicky with my taste in literature, as I mentioned, I know many people disagree with my specific palate and often fickleness. Hence, I would, by no means, intend any offense towards anyone's preference in literature. I greatly admire, and try to own, a fair amount of reverence for art (especially literature), but my pride must show somewhere.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sitaram
How do you all define the word "worst"?
I really think its just a matter of perspective, but then again I just got through reading David Hume's "Of the Standard of Taste" for my literary criticism class (interesting, but droll). Usually, I may like an author's writing method, but hate the message. I hated The Awakening by Kate Chopin because of my personal morals, but I did like her writing style.
I'm not really sure that we as the public can know who the worst writer is, because if someone is that bad, they would never be published anyway, right?
I'll have to think about my vote for a little while, but my standard of the 'worst book ever' will be a book I would not pass on to another. I was going to say 'worst' would be a book that I would have no qualms destroying, throwing away, or burning (ala Bradbury), but I could not bring myself to perform such an act on even simple drivel...
....Ok, I've decided. I read a 'Harlequin Romance' once (the absolutely, positively, only book on the entire train)...and it really, really, really sucked........a lot........immensely bad.......putrid, decayed, mushy, rot. I may have burned that one.....if I hadn't been on a train....and the writing Gods would have forgiven me I'm sure....
I think I have to qoute myself from an earlier discussion on most boring book ever. I hereby nominate Kenji Siratori . This is my evidence , the first lines of Blood electric:
" <<I record the vital-icon+our chromosome form escape of the suck=blood chromosome::the horizon of the body fluid= murder like the dog that was done to nude gene= TV/spasm// "
Yes. It goes on like that.
And you kept reading... for how long? I'm pretty sure I'd close the book in disgust after reading these first lines and randomly checking that he keeps that up for all the book...
EEEeeeewwwwww.......sounds positively horrible!! Gonna be tough to top that as the worst book ever...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Isagel
worst writer just means who do YOU think is the worst writer ever.
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worst writer considered literary? saul bellow...all the taste was in his mouth! ugh!
Ah guys, you'll never get anywhere *this* way....Just kidding! :D
I haven't any read Kafka yet, but I've heard he has an excellent reputation and...hmm...that Kafkaesque describes for a "nightmarish and oppressive atmosphere"....but that doesn't mean anything. Apparently he's often regarded as a comic writer, and he was an "acutely sensitive individual", and wrote from allegorically, lyrically, and lucidly, to plain matter-of-factly. Whoa that's long. But I would defend him if I had read him. :)
But worst writer ever...hard...there's so many bad, bad writers out there....many of which I haven't read one word, but have esteemed bad simply because they ARE. I think....I'd be fighting over Bill Bryson (ugh...my dad reads him...I don't like books where you can't read one page without stumbling over at least one taboo word), um........I'll tell you the rest later, can't remember them!
What a very helpful post. *Sighs*
Miss Darcy
Wow, for the first time I find someone else who admits to dislike Kafka! Thanks guys, you made my day...I can't stand him! Though I wouldnt define him as "the worst"
I don't know how to choose my worst...worst in topics, or worst in writing? If it's for topics, I'd mention Danielle Steele, I think it was the name, and her pathetic novels about beautiful girls and love stories... But I dont rmemeber her writing being particularly bad. But there are authors whose way of writing is boring or in some case even just bad, sort of illiterate...I read some essays that frankly I could have written in better form when I was at primary school...
Objectively, the writer of the 'Eye of Argon'. :pQuote:
Who is the worst writer ever?
Subjectively - Terry Goodkind.
do you read a lot of borges sitaram?
i cant help but laugh out loud when reading kafka, i think his writing is brilliant for its matter of fact delivery of what is frustratingly absurd, i think its the same sort of humour as S. becket, where tension is created through lack , that is you take a man whos woken up as a bug, dont explain it just have him accept it and try to get on with life, or you take a person arrested, dont explain why just have him accept it and get on with life- or like becket have two people sitting on a log waiting for somone who never comes, have someone working for an employer they dont know or see and dont know why they are there. i love the huge gaps, because i relate to that feeling of emptiness, absurdity and lack of meaning.
anyway, as for the actual topic in question- the worst writer- i think all of that romance, thriller, crime, all of that popular stuff written by the truckload (i do not here mean to denegrate the entirity of the above listed genres, just the stuff that takes the formula and joins the dots and banks the cheque.)
The most overrated writer in my opinion is dickens. bleagh.
I love Borges. Jorge Luis Borges was simply amazing! I guess I see your point about Dickens. Though "A Christmas Carol" , Scrooge, all that, is utterly amazing, as a story.
I didn't like Kafka after reading 'Metamorphasis' the first time, but I went on and read 'The Great Wall of China', which followed in my penguin classics edition, and it was amazing. When I went back and gave 'Metamorphasis' another try I thought it was great!
But worst? I think that publishers have better sense than to publish that because presumably they would read this theoretical 'worst' manuscript every and be like 'this is the worst manuscript ever... I think I'll not publish it.' And by the glorious process of publication we are spared from the worst writer ever. Although, I had a friend in highschool who published a story on an N*SINC fan fiction page. I bet you could find some crappy writers on sites like that!
I could definitely agree about Theodore Dreiser. "An American Tragedy" had a fair amount to say, but it was just poorly written, with no style whatsoever. Repeating, awkwardly worded phrases... blah. I recently read somewhere that many literary critics referred to it as something like "The best worst novel ever", or along those lines and couldn't help but chuckle over the accuracy of that.
As for Kafka, I enjoy what works of his I've read. I do think that it would be hard for me to really hold his writing against him as, unless I'm mistaken, it is all translated into English when I read it so it loses a lot of whatever flavor he might have given it. But then again maybe he wrote it in English... ?
I can tell your right now a lot of posts in this thread will be contriversal.
In my opinion I would have to say R.L. Stine. Yes he is a childrens author, but it would be nice to see if his books challenged kids to read at a higher level (like Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling).
He wrote a real book for adults once and I heard it wasn't much better. Just more graphic and grusome.
If it wasn't for R.L. Stine, my son would never have begun reading. His stories are the present representations of the Hardy Boys, etc. Inspired my son to read John Bellairs, Louis Sachar (Holes) and Kenneth Oppel, all children's novels, yes, but so much more amazing than what I had as a youth. He went on to read The Chrysalids ( I mention this book so much) at eleven yrs. old and loved it. So when I found the book for adults, Superstition, by R.L. Stine, I happily grabbed it and hunkered down for a good read...let's just say it now props up an indoor plant. He should stick to kids' work. My least favorite author is Victor Pelevin, his writing drives me nuts. But by saying least favorite, it's probably because I can't "get him", like iwilkiku wrote about kafka and metamorphisis, I should go back and try to read "the life of insects", where I happen to think Pelevin is trying too hard to be like Kafka's Metamorphosis...wonder which plant it's under?????
totally agree about r l stine, his series of goosebumps books entitled "night of the living dummy" which goes on for something like 5 parts, could easily be the title of his biography as a writer.
nice to see saul bellow burned too.
:banana:
Once read Goosebumps in Chinese. Pretty entertaining, but I was young (11/12). The translator might also have done some work...
Wow, I don't actually know Kafka and Sitaram, but I would nominate Ray Bradbury and Ayn Rand. Deep down I also don't quite like Hemingway's style but I'm probably gonna get butchered for saying that.
I am not a big Hemingway fan either. I hated Old Man and the Sea, but A Farewell to Arms wasn't so bad. Still, I doubt I'd read it again.
The first bad author that came to my mind was Dan Brown, followed by that chick who wrote the Lovely Bones.
But then, what can you expect from bestsellers?
Oh, I so hated the Lovely Bones, over-rated, cannot believe it was a bestseller. I also read the Dogs of Babel, that one was over-rated too.
I'm sorry everyone but I have been told on good authority that I am the worst writer. I have poor grammer, poor spelling, poor visualization, poor use of wordage, ect, ect.. Matter of fact the only good news is that I have no where else to go but up. :)
I really dislike Tim Winton - we have to read one of his novels for English class, and Im absolutely hating it!!!!! :(
*hmmm...I feel bad for saying that he is a bad author :( *
Really? I thought Life of Pi was awesome, and it was a bestseller.Quote:
Originally Posted by bobthejeep
I also was going to read The Lovely Bones, but maybe I should skip it? What is it about anyway? As for Dan Brown himself, I'm not really sure how to judge him. I didn't mind him in The Da Vinci Code, but didn't like him at all in Angels and Demons.
I agree Ajoe, D.B. not soooo bad a writer. Life of Pi was good, but everyone talks and talks and talks about these books just 'cause Madame Oprah speaks of them, or they appeared on Martha Stewart for some ungodly reason, like an overplayed song on the radio. Tiring.
I read The Lovely Bones because ( I am so ashamed of this) the book cover was this soft, taunting blue. A young girl is murdered and she tells the story of the lives she left behind whilst seeing them from heaven. That's on the backcover, so don't fear I'm saying too much. To me, it was slow, I wanted to shake the book to speed up the dispension of words into my head and just get it the hell over with.
Katherine Ann Porter......snore....snore....
Well, from the modest number of books I've read, I'd say Catherine Coulter's writing were so far the corniest.
Uhhh.....yeah, okay.......I notice a few disparaging remarks concerning E. Hemingway in this thread........a few of which have gone unnoticed (by me) for several months.....so I'll just note my two cents worth at this point in time and hope the scattering shot catches you all.......... *sticks out tongue*