Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Who are the "Best" Living American Writers?
The publication of Jonathan Franzen's new book, "Freedom" (about which I posted on 11/8/10, 11/11/10, and 11/13/10) brought about a flurry of articles and reviews speculating on whether Franzen is the new best American writer, now that Bellow, Updike, and others have died. Those who read my posts know I do not agree with this assessment. But the ensuing discussion did make me wonder who could be considered the "best" now. I don't really believe there can be one, or even several, "best" writers, because different great writers pursue different themes, employ different styles, and have different strengths. Also, who is the "best" of a generation may not become clear until all the writers of that generation have died and enough time has gone by to get a clearer perspective. But for fun, I looked around the internet to see which names are most often listed in the category of "best"; I found about 30 names that are consistently cited. Most often mentioned are Philip Roth, Don DeLillo, Toni Morrison, John Irving, Joyce Carol Oates, Marilynne Robinson, and Thomas Pynchon. Others frequently mentioned include Tom Wolfe, John Irving, Louise Erdrich, Lorrie Moore, Jane Smiley, Colson Whitehead, Jonathan Lethem, T.C. Boyle, Jonathan Safran Foer, Michael Chabon, Anne Tyler, Richard Russo, Jeffrey Eugenides, Jennifer Egan, Barbara Kingsolver, Nicole Krauss, and Jhumpa Lahiri. Readers, what do you think?
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Don DeLillo by a mile! Amongst others, how about Cosmopolis, hugely underrated and several years ahead of its time.
ReplyDelete(But I have not read all these writers of course!)
Great blog.
-- Andrew
Thanks, Andrew! Your blog, being one of the first by USF profs, was one of my inspirations.
ReplyDeleteStephen King....forget about the rest.
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DeleteEither John Irving or T.C. Boyle. Stephen King is (at his best-he has written a lot of subpar stuff) a better writer than most people think--especially his short stories, but with Updike and Vonnegut both recently gone, I'll go with Irving and Boyle in a tie.
ReplyDeleteThanks for these comments, Johnny Peachpit! I have read and admired several of Irving's and of Boyle's novels. Never have read Stephen King...perhaps I should.
DeleteI was also pretty impressed with Dennis LeHane's books. He's not #1 on the list, but deserves mention.
ReplyDeleteHands down the title goes to Donna Tartt (for me). Oates and Morrison have some wonderful things, and Lahiri writes beautiful short stories, but there is something about reading Tartt that you know is epic in and of itself. Her writing has that magical quality that forces you to surrender to it, to submit yourself to the words. The others all produce more, yes, but they write specific things. They tackle variations of the same plot. I'm also keen on the short of stories of Shannon Cain. I do think Canada has the US beat in the quality of poetry, short stories, and novels its writers have been producing of late.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Anonymous. Interesting choice re Donna Tartt. I have read and enjoyed her work but felt her writing was not at the same level as most of the other writers listed in my post. Just my opinion. I don't know the work of Shannon Cain. I am also a fan of Canadian fiction. (And I am originally Canadian myself, so am always interested in following Canadian literature.)
DeleteCormac McCarthy. Hands down. He is the last in a dying breed of American writers... Directly in the tradition of Melville, Twain, Faulkner, and Fitzgerald. James Salter is another great writer who is EXTREMELY underrated. I'd advise everyone to check out his latest book "All That Is" which was just recently published.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joe, for your comment. I know that McCarthy is a great writer; I just haven't been able to like his work myself. Just a personal preference. I do admire the small selection of James Salter's work that I have read, and recently posted about him on this blog, after reading a New Yorker article that reminded me about his work. I have "All That Is" on my to-read list, and I will probably be posting on it some time in the next couple of months.
ReplyDelete