What is your nationality and one of your nations writers??

[TurquoiseSunset]

'Classics'
Herman Charles Bosman (Short Stories)
J.M. Coetzee
Athol Fugard (Plays mostly)
Nadine Gordimer
Alan Paton
Olive Schreiner

and then...
Deon Meyer - on the Crime/Thirller fiction scene and, most recently, won a Barry Award for Best Thriller (USA) in 2011.
Wilbur Smith - born in Zambia, but lived in South Africa for most of his life. His novels are mostly based in Southern Africa.
Bryce Courtenay - now a naturalized Australian.

and lastly...
JRR Tolkien - he was born here and that's about it.

[WICKES]

Deal. I knew Eliot lived for most of his adult life in England, but he was born in the states, so I decided to include him. I didn't know that about Auden (whom I do like), but Kipling also lived for a number of years here, and I wondered that about him-do the British get to claim him, or do we?

Actually, I'd say T.S Eliot was an anglo-American. Auden wasn't, he was just an Englishman who emigrated to America. Plath wasn't. She was an American living in Britain. But I'd say Winston Churchill was an 'anglo-American'. Christopher Hitchens identified himself as an 'anglo- American' as well. He seemed to mean that there is such a thing as an anglo-American personality type or temprement- someone torn between both cultures and not quite at home in either; people who belong in the middle of the Atlantic perhaps!

[WICKES]

'Classics'
Herman Charles Bosman (Short Stories)
J.M. Coetzee
Athol Fugard (Plays mostly)
Nadine Gordimer
Alan Paton
Olive Schreiner

and then...
Deon Meyer - on the Crime/Thirller fiction scene and, most recently, won a Barry Award for Best Thriller (USA) in 2011.
Wilbur Smith - born in Zambia, but lived in South Africa for most of his life. His novels are mostly based in Southern Africa.
Bryce Courtenay - now a naturalized Australian.

and lastly...
JRR Tolkien - he was born here and that's about it.

You forgot Laurens Van Der Post.

I think it would be a stretch to claim Tolkein as a South African writer. His parents were English and were temporarily living in South Africa while his father worked for a British bank there. Tolkein left when he was just 3 and spent the rest of his life in England, where he died. The Lord of the Rings are deeply English: the shire is an idealized vision of a rural English village and the hobbits are based on the young English boys from the English countryside who Tolkein commanded as a British officer during WW1.

[hampusforev]

Strindberg

[TurquoiseSunset]

You forgot Laurens Van Der Post.

Oh, and last, but not least, Laurens van der Post, who is hardly ever mentioned in South Africa, I find.

I think it would be a stretch to claim Tolkein as a South African writer.

Exactly, and that's why I added the "and that's about it" part. He was really only born here, although he does feature on some lists of South African writers; I personally don't see him as one.

[AjaxAscendant]

Hmmm...

Rabindranath Tagore--one of the greatest Eastern poets ever.

Sarat Chandra Chatterjee--a brilliant author who deserves a wider audience

and in the moderns:

Vikram Seth--A fine writer; too bad we lost him to the US.

[WICKES]

Hmmm...

Rabindranath Tagore--one of the greatest Eastern poets ever.

Sarat Chandra Chatterjee--a brilliant author who deserves a wider audience

and in the moderns:

Vikram Seth--A fine writer; too bad we lost him to the US.

Isn't Salman Rushdie Indian as well?

[Tellem Chaho]

I am Algerian, A very multicultural nation, unfortunately all the world knows about it is that it had a long history with violence. Now I feel Like Papa Monzano in Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle. Algerian Literature is written in three languages, French, Arabic and Amazigh. My username, Tellem Chaho is an Amazigh word which means Once Upon a Time. I cannot speak this language but I am trying to learn it. In case you're wondering where this country is situatiod, it is the lagre part which never bares a name in tourist maps between Tunisia and Morocco. Of our literary men I would mention AHlem Mosteghanemi for Arabic literature and Mohamed Dib and Malek Haddad for French litreature. These men have already been postmodernist back in the early 60s although they barely had the right for schooling. I guess colonialism has one good side, is that it gives incentive to the victim to bring more. This country today is no longer related to violence as it used to 12 years ago.

[Tellem Chaho]

Salman Rushdie is Half Indian Half Pakistani and kind of British

[ilovelordbyron]

i'm Italian. Many people think that The itlain literature is great and complex. I don't agree at all. I never thought that it was brilliant because i don't think there are such good, brilliant and extremely fascinating works as abroad . You know, Italiaans have Dante, Pirandello maybe Alfieri but here, no writer has a complicated way of writing as the Anglo-amenicans. There are my favourites, even if i love also the French and german ones. I'd like knowing th russian ones much better. i'm not interested in the italian literature above all because i never found what i was looking for in a very good book . Please, if you don't agree with me, explain me why, so i can grow ) love

[Alexander III]

i'm Italian. Many people think that The itlain literature is great and complex. I don't agree at all. I never thought that it was brilliant because i don't think there are such good, brilliant and extremely fascinating works as abroad . You know, Italiaans have Dante, Pirandello maybe Alfieri but here, no writer has a complicated way of writing as the Anglo-amenicans. There are my favourites, even if i love also the French and german ones. I'd like knowing th russian ones much better. i'm not interested in the italian literature above all because i never found what i was looking for in a very good book . Please, if you don't agree with me, explain me why, so i can grow ) love

Scusa, ma ti dimentici D'Annunzio, Calvino, Leopardi, Foscolo e Manzini

[conartist]

Scusa, ma ti dimentici D'Annunzio, Calvino, Leopardi, Foscolo e Manzini

I saw you mention how little read D'Annunzio is outside of Italy earlier in the thread. I read half a dozen of his novels last year, as well as some short stories and poetry, and thought they were all remarkable, if a little unsettling and at times seemingly lacking in humanity. His characters are rarely sympathetic. Do you think that this is why he's little read outside of Italy, or is it more his place in history overshadowing his place in literature? Is he widely read in Italy?

[irinmisfit92]

I'm probably the only Indonesian here and the most famous literary author we have is Chairil Anwar. Hís novel "Aku" ("I") is really famous, however most people in our country have no sense of literature these days. I think the arts used to be so great, but now the people are generally ignorant of these kinds of things.

[ilovelordbyron]

In Italy, people don't use to read D' Annunzio because they don't appreciate him as a man. i want to be clearer. He wasn't a common man. He always tried to be a part from society, he wanted to be a symbol for everyone,he wanted to be a "Superuomo" (Nietsche's Über Men). Unfortunately, italians sometimes judge a writer knowing just his personal life, forgetting that art is a part from everything. As Wilde sayd "it's not a moral or immoral book. it's well or badly written. That's all". So they should be concentrated only on his works.

[JBI]

I would think Manzoni would still be the Italian novelist. I mean, there seem to be only two acknowledged books by the general readership, Comedia, and I Promessi Sposi