Now that the dust has settled, is there such a thing as good American literature?
Was Hemmingway the best example? Or should we look to Twain/etc? Even if they can't compare to the European Übermensch, it's cute that they tried and are trying.
Here are the top 25 American writers as determined by the amount of scholarship on each. In brackets is the rise or fall of each writer when compared to his or her ranking since 1947.
( 1.) Henry James (3,188 items) [+1]
( 2.) William Faulkner (2,955) [-1]
( 3.) T. S. Eliot (2,659) [+1]
( 4.) Herman Melville (2,579) [-1]
( 5.) Vladimir Nabokov (2,290) [+5]
( 6.) Ernest Hemingway (2,220) [-0-]
( 7.) Edgar Allan Poe (1,958) [-2]
( 8.) Toni Morrison (1,950) [+9]
( 9.) Nathaniel Hawthorne (1,751) [-4]
(10.) Walt Whitman (1,647) [-2]
(11.) Emily Dickinson (1,623) [+2]
(12.) Ezra Pound (1,620) [-3]
(13.) Willa Cather (1,482) [+5]
(14.) Ralph Waldo Emerson (1,326) [-3]
(15.) Wallace Stevens (1,122) [-1]
(16.) Edith Wharton (1,087) [+5]
(17.) Henry David Thoreau (1,076) [-5]
(18.) F. Scott Fitzgerald (1,002) [-3]
(19.) Flannery O’Connor (935) [+3]
(20.) Mark Twain (882) [-4]
(21.) John Steinbeck (823) [+2]
(22.) William Carlos Williams (772) [-0-]
(23.) Saul Bellow (706) [+2]
(24.) Richard Wright (670) [+2]
(25.) Robert Frost (661) [-5]
>>8062831
>no dfw
In time, I guess?
>>8062831
>Emily Dickinson
>Willa Cather
>Edith Wharton
>F.Scott Fitzgerald
>John Steinbeck
I believe American authors were masters on the English Novel. No British author comes close to Melville or Faulkner. Ireland has obviously produced some greats as well, however.
The greatest English poets were also American (Whitman and Wallace Stevens), but there are some notable British poets at least.
I don't see how any reader since the 1800s can look down on American literature. New England alone has produced more great works of English lit than any other entire country.
>>8063108
>>8063115
Instead of shitposting why don't you recommend some British authors so that I can become more cultured.
I like:
Shakespeare
Milton
Goethe
Rushdie
Oscar Wilde
Acclaimed authors that are absolutely terrible:
Dickens
Orwell
Really quick list off the top of my head.
>>8062831
>Vladimir Nabokov
Wew lady
>>8062860
so how's your undergraduate english degree going?
>>8062831
>Vladimir Nabokov
>American writers
>>8063139
Goethe was a Brit? That's news to me.
>>8063139
>British
>Goethe
>>8063139
>Orwell
>Terrible
>>8062848
lol, nah.
>>8062831
Where my nigga Ray?
>>8062848
absolutely not ever
>Ralph
what the fuck kind of shitty name is this? seriously, ralph? is this some kind of queer anglicization of raphael? i hate catholics as much as the next freedom and prosperity loving chrisitian but come on
>>8062831
I've never read any Henry James but been meaning to, where's the best place to start?
>>8063361
Its tea time bs, dont bother
>>8063363
If you seriously think that, you're a moron.
>>8063363
What do you have against a nice tea time friend?
>>8062831
>as determined by the amount of scholarship on each
STEMbot pls go.
>>8062831
>Henry James
Literally who?
>>8063139
>Goethe
>Wilde
>British
wew lad.
I'm American and was all ready to defend you...
>>8063495
Wilde was British; or do you forget that we owned Ireland?
>>8063495
Wilde you could technically make a case for since Ireland was part of the UK back then. The rest of his list makes me think he has to be intentionally shitposting.
>>8063506
>Wilde was British; or do you forget that we owned Ireland?
wew...boyo...I imagine this discussion is gonna go well...
>>8063506
>there's been two Irish born Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom
>there's never been an English born Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland
Who owns who again?
>>8063361
Daisy Miller
I mean, america was the center of Pomo literature with people like Gaddis, Pynchon, Delillo, DFW, etc. If you arent into Postmodern then James, Mellvile, Faulkner, Twain, Nabokov were all solid authors, but I'm not sure we really competed with the European contemporaries until the Pomo movement
>>8063613
People can disagree whether Russia or America dominated the 19th century, but there's little question America was supreme in the 20th. Who will produce the most great work of the 21st?
>>8063361
The American
>>8062783
There are two great American novelists, and their names are Melville and Faulkner.
>>8064072
America has far more than its share of great novelists, many of whom I would rank above Faulkner, though I don't question his greatness.
>>8064203
Don't just say you'd rank some above Faulkner; fucking name them.
>>8063108
>The greatest English poets were also American
And many of the rest were technically British but not English.
>>8063108
>>8064399
I think Faulkner is a little stylistically overbearing, and my appetite for the constantly doom-horizoned milieu of Yoknapatawpha is possibly less than that of others. I would rank Twain higher, I would put Faulkner last of the big four in his era, and I would put a few writers since above him, certainly Pynchon.
>>8064430
There isn't much controversial in what he said, excepting the idea that the greatest poets in the English language have been American, and the New England part might be truer in a world without Russia.
Melville
Pynchon
Gene Wolfe
David Foster Wallace
Maybe some others
>>8064553
ok, let's forget about shakespear or say blake, coleridge etc for some wallace stevens... whitman could compete for one of the best in the second half of 19th century though
>>8062848
hahaha
>>8063394
literary analysis is STEM now?
>>8062783
>Eliot
>Whitman
As Americans.
>Fitzgerald
>Steinbeck
Regarding America.
>>8062831
>( 8.) Toni Morrison (1,950) [+9]
Philip K. Dick is often skipped over for being representative of American literature because he's sci-fi but I genuinely regard him as one of the quintessential American authors.
I like the work of Jack London.
Where is Joseph McElroy?
>>8064540
You're a fucking moron. Twain's a goddam corn cob comedian who wrote one of the shittiest endings in the history of literature, and Pynchon likewise is a clown just with a few more clever bells and whistles afforded by the historical vantage point of "muh post-WWII" cynicism. Faulkner is hands down the greatest writer this shit-for-brains derivative country will ever produce, and if you think his style or his stories are overbearing than you must have a sht ear for originality and lack any appreciation of true aestheticism.
>>8064823
Makes sense 2bh; she's very popular and her work's very allusive.
>>8064823
thats some reaction image, i remember that from like 8 years ago
>>8065196
Or maybe you're just super-impressed with yourself that you've read him, and you are exaggerating his greatness. I did it myself when I read all his major works. If there's a moment in all of them as gorgeous as Huck finally deciding he'll go to Hell, you'll have to remind me what it was.
>>8065196
corncobby chronicles
>>8062831
>Vladimir Nabokov
looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool
>>8065322
Well, he wrote his best stuff in English, set in America, while he was living there. It's not like Lolita or Pale Fire are Russian novels.
>>8063739
south america/china
>>8064770
that's a data analysis on literary analyses
>>8065350
Except he was. He gained citizenship in the 20s and lived in England for rest of his life.
>>8065365
why would i make the statement if i didn't know that you retard
>>8062831
lmao that's retarded
Melville > all the other shitlords
>>8065368
Because it's a false statement and wasn't written in an ironic mode, you dumb cunt.
>>8063108
Folks saying this is bait, out with your novelists better than Melville and Faulkner. Out with your poets better and more significant than Whitman, Eliot, Pound.
I'll wait!
still waiting
STILL WAITING!
>>8063139
>Orwell
>Terrible
>Goethe
>British
Oh boy, you sure your brain isn't all mixed up?
