LitNet Top 100 Authors!

[JBI]

Perhaps I'll check it out, but I'd rather read the books and I don't find their styles at all unlikeable. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is very laconic, direct, and action packed. The Dream of the Red Chamber is luxurious, poetic, and beautiful. I'd just rather finish up my ancient world studies and then move on to the Shahnameh, which I'm loving. As for Genji, I wasn't really enjoying that anyway.

What translation of Dream do you have?

[mortalterror]

What translation of Dream do you have?

I don't actually own a copy of that one. I just borrowed one from the library and read the first hundred pages or so. It was the Penguin translation http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/014...pf_rd_i=507846 with that lovely Chinese painting on the cover.

[islandclimber]

this is the copy I have, and I think the one you mentioned earlier JBI from the time of Mao.. Hurrah for the Maoist propaganda machine..

http://www.amazon.com/Dream-Red-Mans...ref=pd_sim_b_1

[JBI]

this is the copy I have, and I think the one you mentioned earlier JBI from the time of Mao.. Hurrah for the Maoist propaganda machine..

http://www.amazon.com/Dream-Red-Mans...ref=pd_sim_b_1

Yeah, I read that one, though my copy, from the library, was severely beat down - I think I'll see if my university has a copy of the Penguin edition and reread it - Mortal, how are the translations of the names? Are they using the new system or old (you can tell, if you don't know how, by looking to see if there are " ' " marks in the names, and weird combos like "hs").

[mortalterror]

Yeah, I read that one, though my copy, from the library, was severely beat down - I think I'll see if my university has a copy of the Penguin edition and reread it - Mortal, how are the translations of the names? Are they using the new system or old (you can tell, if you don't know how, by looking to see if there are " ' " marks in the names, and weird combos like "hs").

Honestly, it was two years ago and I don't fully remember. What I do recall was that gnarly old monk dude and the stone and that boy who would only calm down around girls. I think I stopped about the time he goes to sleep in like his aunt's bedroom and has this vision.

[Paulclem]

I suppose lists like these are useful in perhaps recomending good authors. I think they may say more about the people who engage in this forum than anything else.

[Cossack]

Great list.

[Lullaby]

This is a joke, right? Dickens above Joyce, Proust, Woolf and Lawrence? That's really funny. Orwell in the top 30? That's funny too. Ellis? Brett Easton? OK, I geddit - it's meant tuh beh funneh. Ha, Ha, Help!

What's wrong with Bret Easton Ellis? He may not be Tolstoy, but he is one of the major 'Generation X' authors!

[McGrain]

Any list that doesn't have Shakespeare at #1 may be a list fail...still, I wouldn't include drama for these purposes, personally, so i'm just going to ignore him and grumble about Joyce being so low...Joyce would be my #1 with Dostie and Tolstoy flanking him in any order.

Good stab though.

[mal4mac]

Any list that doesn't have Shakespeare at #1 may be a list fail...

Don't take it too seriously! It's just a rough list of what some people who use this forum might think. I think Shakespeare, Dickens, Cervantes, Tolstoy should be bumped above Dostoevsky, and maybe Chekhov (close call). If you are a Dostoevsky fan I challenge you to read Hamlet, Don Quixote (Grossman trans.), Tolstoy's Shorter Novels (Maude trans.), A book of Chekhov's best short stories & David Copperfield and tell me why Dostoevesky should be number 1 above these writers. By next week... :-)

I notice that Dostoevsky got bumped out of Columbia's Lit. Hum. course in favour of Austen - I might bump her above Dost. as well.

Why's Hemingway so high? Hardy and several others should surely be above him.

[Griffith]

Is Kafka superior than Goethe?

[bazarov]

Unbelievable. A literature forum.

[balehead]

If you are a Dostoevsky fan I challenge you to read Hamlet, Don Quixote (Grossman trans.), Tolstoy's Shorter Novels (Maude trans.), A book of Chekhov's best short stories & David Copperfield and tell me why Dostoevesky should be number 1 above these writers. By next week... :-).

I have read all of these; and believe Dostoyevsky to be the superior writer, the reason being that I merely took more enjoyment from his delving into the human nature and his writing style, plus, seeing as the results were voted for, it is clear that Dostoyevsky knew how to please a large majority of people with his writing, as you can never win everyone over, but he is the person with the most rallying for him.

[breathtest]

I think perhaps William Blake should be higher in the rankings. But apart from that it is a fantastic list

[SophieB]

Not sure if you're familiar with some brilliant Australian authors such as Tim Winton, Peter Carey, David Malouf, Patrick White. There has to be at least one aussie on the list!