The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

Ready.....GO!

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

Henry Miller

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

Faulkner, William.

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

Not Cool!

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

Ray Bradbury

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

harper lee

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

Are we counting TS Eliot as American or British?

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

Hey man, just looking for some suggestions.

And at least I'm sober.

I would have just put "Tell me your favorite..." if I knew "The best" was going to bunch your undies.

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

Stephen King by a mile

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

[ QUOTE ]
Are we counting TS Eliot as American or British?

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British, I assume.

If we are counting him as American, he wins...

...and it's not close.

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

ernie hemingway

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

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Henry Miller

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Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

Steinbeck.

The first one to say Bret Easton Ellis gets a smack.

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

Hunter Stockton Thompson.

(I expect to be flamed for this so FU in advance.)

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

[ QUOTE ]
Stephen King by a mile

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The question was who is the best not who used to be a good writer but has been pumping out as many books as he possibly can before the public catches on to the fact he hasn't written a good book in about 10 years

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

HST is OK. If anyone nominates Kurt Vonnegut they should get banned.

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

If we were discussing non-fiction, how would Michael Lewis fare? I enjoy his non-fiction books way more than any fictional ones.

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

Walker Percy

Yugoslav

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

Raymond Carver.

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

I would say that Philip Roth & Joyce Carol Oates have to be near the top, at least in terms of technical skill w/the English language. Can't fault anyone for picking Papa or Bradbury, of course.
This guy ain't bad either, tho I've only read the baseball book. [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

Steve King will always be my personal fave, but as has been noted his fiction has been at least 90% crap for the last 15 years. He's actually gotten much better as an essayist in that time, when he's not whining about politics. The best thing he's written since Different Seaons is prolly the thing about his kid playing Little League.

Hey, is Ayn Rand American? [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

Erskine Caldwell.

(Tobacco Road and God's Little Acre)

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

Neal Stephenson

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

One of the first names that came to my head - And I've read all the classics by those old white guys.

BTW, if you like his stuff you should read "When Genius Failed", "Den of Thieves" and "Conspiracy of Fools" in that order - All phenomenal business non fiction.

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

Hemingway, Ernest

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

[ QUOTE ]
Faulkner, William.

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Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

Ernest Hemingway
Joseph Heller
Robert Ruark
John Steinbeck

Can't really go wrong with any of them.

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

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Hey, is Ayn Rand American? [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

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Kind of.

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

I'll put Catch 22 extremely high, but as for its author -- did anyone read anything else he wrote?

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

you are right on about this. the reason this 'best of' thread is worse than most is because people are going to list a lot of authors that they don't know real well and don't like that much, but that they heard in literature class were pretty good.

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

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you are right on about this. the reason this 'best of' thread is worse than most is because people are going to list a lot of authors that they don't know real well and don't like that much, but that they heard in literature class were pretty good.

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Exactly.

I can't imagine a 20 something year old can more easily identify with things from a Hemingway book than a Thompson book, unless they haven't read one.

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

First is certainly John Barth. Hemingway is second (though of more historical importance than Barth). Third I think is Don Delilo. I haven't read Faulkner or Henry Miller yet so I don't know about them. If we include immigrants then the winner would be Nabokov.

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

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I'll put Catch 22 extremely high, but as for its author -- did anyone read anything else he wrote?

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Haven't myself but a friend read Something Happens and told me it was good.

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

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I can't imagine a 20 something year old can more easily identify with things from a Hemingway book than a Thompson book, unless they haven't read one.

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1. What does identifying with the details of the book have to do with the quality of the writer?
2. You obvioulsy haven't read The Sun Also Rises

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

The Sun Also Rises - One of my personal favorites. Should be mandatory reading for any young man planning a Euro back pack trip.

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

Theodor Seuss and John Steinbeck

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

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The Sun Also Rises - One of my personal favorites. Should be mandatory reading for any young man planning a Euro back pack trip.

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Here's another huge thumbs up for The Sun Also Rises. And it's very easy for a young guy to relate to.

It's very politically correct to discount Hemingway. First it was because he committed suicide, as if that somehow discredited his entire life's work, and then because of the macho factor. Much hatred toward the man, and much posing. But not one in a million of his critics can write as well as he can.

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

Robert Penn Warren? Michael Chabon?

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

[ QUOTE ]
Theodor Seuss and John Steinbeck

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Dr. Seuss rules [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

i'm partial to cassady and kerouac, i think going with hemmingway is a little too obvious

Re: The best American author of the 20th century is....
 

H.L. Mencken was very funny. Tom Wolfe also is above average.