Most overated author?

[Ryduce]

Which do you dislike the most?

[IrishCanadian]

I have no idea which i dislike the most .... maybe Kafka .... but the most "overated" might be ... wel ... Kafka i think.

[Virgil]

People are going to hate me for this. I'm going to list a few authors who I think are over rated. Now that doesn't mean they don't have value, just that their reputation exceeds my estimate of their merit. And let me emphasize, my estimate.

Mark Twain
Ernest Hemingway
ee cumings
Norman Mailer
Allen Ginsberg
Kate Chopin
Ayn Rand
Joseph Heller
Arthur Miller

I stayed from contemporary writers, since it takes time for reputations to settle in. And by coincidence I see I picked only American writers, which probably means I don't feel comfortable with knowing the reputations of foreign writers.

[Ryduce]

Personally I never liked James Joyce.Though alot of people have told me he's the greatest writer ever.I've read all his stuff.

[IrishCanadian]

While i disagre with Ryduce, i agree whole heartedly with Virgil!

[Ryduce]

I dont agree with Twain or Hemingway.

[Virgil]

Personally I never liked James Joyce.Though alot of people have told me he's the greatest writer ever.I've read all his stuff.

Joyce is a great writer, but I've always been put off by the people who say he's the greatest. He almost made my list. Remember, the question was over rated. I think Twain and Hemingway are good writers, just way overblown

[Charles Darnay]

I also agree with Virgil on some points.... I enjoy Twain and Hemmingway but i think they're over rated.

I don't think ee cummings is over rated.... quite the opposite i think

I definatly wouldn't put Kafka on my list, but i haven't been exposed to any Kafka so i suppose i dont know if he's over rated

My list:
Margaret Atwood
J.K Rowling
Dan Brown
Daniell Steel

Modern writers. I think people give these writers far too much credit. As one who is against the Hollywoodization of the novel, I think people confuse "good writing" with "an enjoyable read" - these authors manage to spin an enjoyable read, but in terms of their abliity to write - they are given far too much praise

[The Unnamable]

Joyce is a great writer, but I've always been put off by the people who say he's the greatest. He almost made my list.

I'm sure he'd feel honoured.

This whole thread reminds me of that scene in Manhattan where Woody, accompanied by his 17 year old girlfriend (Tracy), encounters Mary (Diane Keaton) and Yale. Perhaps it's a bit like that Saturday Night Live skit you mentioned:

"MARY: What do you do, Tracy?
TRACY: I go to high school.

MARY: Oh, really. Really. Somewhere Nabokov
is smiling, if you know what I mean.

YALE: LeWitt is overrated. In fact,
he may be a candidate for the academy.

MARY: Right!

YALE: Mary and I have invented the Academy
of the Overrated for such notables as

MARY: Gustav Mahler,
YALE: Isak Dinesen and Carl Jung.

MARY: Scott Fitzgerald.
YALE: Lenny Bruce. Can't forget him, can we?

MARY: How about Norman Mailer?
WOODY: I think those people are all terrific.

YALE: Who was that guy you had?
MARY: I didn't. It was yours. Heinrich Bol.

WOODY: Overrated?
MARY: Don't wanna leave out Heinrich.

WOODY: Gee, what about Mozart?
You guys don't wanna leave out Mozart while you’re trashing people."

[EAP]

Joyce
Dostoevsky
Tolstoy
Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi
Col. Mohammad Khan
Mumtaz Mufti
Mirza Ghalib
V. S. Naipal
Kobo Abe
Charlotte Bronte
Frank Herbert
Robert Anson Heinlein

[Xamonas Chegwe]

When compiling these lists, can I ask exactly what you mean by over-reated?

Do you mean that they are respected as great writers by the literary 'establishment' but that you personally don't like them?
Or that they sell lots of books but you think they shouldn't?
Or perhaps that you had high expectations of them and were disappointed?

I ask because there is a great disparity between the lists of authors. Virgil's contains only 'literary' authors - Charles's is much more populist - EAP's is a mix of the two.

I think we need to establish a consistent definition of 'over-rated' rather than just spitting out endless lists of writers we don't like much.

But what do I know - I have read and love everything written by Kafka - and Joyce's Dubliners is one of the best collections of short-stories I have ever read.

[Ryduce]

You can interpret it as you please.I don't hate Joyce,I actually enjoyed The Portrait of The Artist As A Young Man,but all the people I've known who have read him universally agree that he's the best and that Ulysses is the greatest book ever.I just happen to think this is a bold statement.There is too much great literature in the world for someone to be called the greatest.

[Charles Darnay]

It was established at the beginning that over-rated does not mean you do not dislike the authors. It simply means that, at least what i think, they are given too much credit and you just constatnly hear about Hemmingway or Joyce (two authors i quite enjoy btw) everywhere. If you were to walk into a small-time bookstore in America for example and take a look at their classics section, they would have tons of Hemmingways novels (despite the fact that he may or may not be considered classsics to some people) and maybe one Herman Melville or Hawthorne.

That's just my opinion on this subject

[Ryduce]

We could do another thread about writers who don't get enough credit.That might be more interesting to talk about.

[PeterL]

We could do another thread about writers who don't get enough credit.That might be more interesting to talk about.

Agreed, there are many ignored authors, who are truly great, or who have written at least one great book.