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

[Danenania]

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.

[Danenania]

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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.

[thatpfunk]

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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

[Boris]

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

[mslif]

Theodor Seuss and John Steinbeck

[Blarg]

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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.

[Subfallen]

Robert Penn Warren? Michael Chabon?

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Theodor Seuss and John Steinbeck

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

[KDawgCometh]

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

[Roy Munson]

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