Greatest American writer?
I'm reading Wise Blood now and I think O'Connor is one of the best, but I don't think I could say greatest.
>>8147929
No. Not even close.
Bill Gray.
Virginia Woolf etc etc
I'm currently reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn though, and really loving it, so I suppose Betty Smith is alright as well.
For me it's her, Melville, Faulkner, Stein, and Pynchon.
>>8148012
virginia woolf is not american you fuck whore ass
>>8148032
I AM SORRY
My brain ignored the "American" I guess. Plus I'm drunk.
Betty Smith then.
BETTY SMITH BETTY SMITH BETTY SMITH
Also, Jane Austen.
>>8147947
>I've read Mao II
Congratulations
>>8148036
Also I thought this thread was asking for female authors only.
I guess I'll be heading for bed. GOOD NIGHT /LIT/
>>8147929
My favorite american writers are her, Gene Wolfe and John Williams.
>>8147936
one of my favorite books. make a thread on it once you're done. it's a fun book to discuss. also there is an old movie adaption with brad dourif. it's pretty good. check it out.
I would say...O'Connor...along with Faulkner, hemingway, Melville, ray carver...
but I think THE quintessential American author is Mark Twain.
>>8148042
sleep tight ^-^
>>8148058
Mark Twain was the first American to develop a narrative voice and style that would be considered uniquely American at that time.
>>8148036
>Virginia Woolf
>"hey anon Virginia Woolf wasn't American"
>Jane Austen
how drunk are you?
>>8148058
>Mark Twain.
I like, get why Twain usually gets that title, but I still think both Nathaniel Hawthorne and Melville are better writers.
>>8148083
I included that as a joke desu. I love you though. I'm not too drunk. I'm reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Have you read that? I've never seen it discussed on /lit/ desu. I really like it a lot. I got like 100 pages left and I'm sad because I enjoy it so much. I like coming-of-age stories in general. I've been on anti-depressants for a while now and they somehow disabled me to cry. Only two things have been able to make me tear up since then, both books; one was The Waves, and now ATGIB was the second. Pretty good. I automatically ascribe some value to a book if it makes me cry. idk.
I'll read Butcher's Crossing next. The cover is really pretty.
>>8147929
where should I start with this qt?
I heard she has a dank collection of short stories
>>8148114
Ye start with the short stories, they are great.
>>8148088
I disagree. The roots of a lot of modern fiction can be found in both style and content to Mark Twain's material. Both Hawthorne and Melville are great. And you can find their influence. However, to the degree you find Mark Twain's? I don't know about that. But when you talk about influence there would be no Hemingway without Twain. And who knows how many people Hemingway influenced in a popular style referred to as "American minimalism." He would take Twain's plain-spoken, deceptively simple prose and pare it down. Then Ray Carver would do it even more.
Not all of Twain's books are hits. But you consider the narrative voice in Huck Finn, there was really nothing like that before it. He really captured a distinctly American vernacular with slang (which also hadn't been done on that level before). And culturally what that book did with the character nigger jim was pretty wild at the time.
>>8148114
library of america has a compilation of everything she wrote
you can get it used for like 10 bucks on amazon
>>8147929
that's dont look like Raymond Carver much
>>8147936
Reading it too atm, she is magnificent.
As for greatest american writer, hard to say.. If it's the best writer who happens to have been an American citizen, I would say Melville or Nabokov. Greatest writer who was quintessentially, parochially American though, is probably Walt Whitman, maybe Faulkner at a close second
Twain, Meliville, Dickens, Pynchon
>>8148101
Butcher's crossing is amazing, greatest Western ever written according to Oakley Hall, who happened to write my favorite Western ever
>>8147929
All nonentities
>>8148220
Kool, thanks dude. What's that favourite Western of yours? I'll be sure to add it to my list.
>>8148191
Carver is really good, but I don't think he can compete for greatest American writer. Though he does belong in the pantheon
>>8148224
Warlock
>>8148233
great book.
I have a soft spot for lonesome dove. you ever read that one?
>>8148247
Yes big fan. If you liked that one definitely check out Dead man's walk and Comanche moon, the latter of which is my favorite of the three but I feel was overshadowed by LD winning the Pulitzer
>>8148253
Hmm, no. they're kind of awful. anything else?
>>8148233
are you thomas pynchon
>>8148274
no, why?
>>8147929
I believe so, at least in terms of talent. Steinbeck would be second.
