Who makes the best literature?

[gunnar hendershow]

Ancient Greece.

But in a modern sense. I'll have to say that America has had the upper hand for the last 100 years or so. Not to mention the famous authors that came before (Melville, Poe, etc.)

[Gongsun Zan]

Joyce FTW.

[Rage]

Joyce FTW.

[9 to 5]

Pengiun books. >_>

[Pesci]

Nobody can spell playwright!

And Shakespeare was fantastic. I mean, whenever I've read his stuff it seems like complete wank, but if you analyse what it is he's saying and bear in mind that he wrote it 400 or 500 years ago so the language is bound to be different, he's ace. Still, I don't like reading plays.

[Liam]

And Shakespeare was fantastic. I mean, whenever I've read his stuff it seems like complete wank, but if you analyse what it is he's saying and bear in mind that he wrote it 400 or 500 years ago so the language is bound to be different, he's ace. Still, I don't like reading plays.

Agreed. I used to hate Shakespeare, but having studied a few of his plays in the last year, and his word use for an essay in my second year at Uni, I quite like Shakespeare, but I just need to work to understand it.

[GRIFT]

William Golding. All of his work is brilliant.

[VerbalPuke]

John Steinbeck deserves a mention.

Great call, I was going to make mention of him myself.

I always enjoyed Walt Whitman, he was a great poet/writer.

Ken Kesey is another one I enjoy quite a bit. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest anybody?

Out of left field, I'll say that Richard Hell is a hell of a writer (no pun intended). He wrote a great book in "Go Now", albeit it is a bit short.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

William Golding. All of his work is brilliant.

Lord Of The Flies is fantastic!

[Farmer Reil]

Dan Abnett, anyone? No? Ok, well, I'll be over here when someone agrees with me

[YI]

Them Biff, Chip and Kipper books were awesome. Whoever wrote them, they are clearly some kind of God.

[ROC]

Oh wait, how did we not bring up J.D. Salinger?

To be fair, Salinger (I think) only wrote The Catcher in the Rye, but certainly that's a very classic book on its own right.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Oh wait, how did we not bring up J.D. Salinger?

To be fair, Salinger (I think) only wrote The Catcher in the Rye, but certainly that's a very classic book on its own right.

Never read it - it's not on the English English Literature curriculum.

Can't remember exactly what I read but I believe that for A Level (16-18 year old) we read: Tennyson & Browning poetry, "Return of the Native" by Thomas Hardy, "The Alchemist" by Ben Jonson, the Introduction to the Canterbury Tales by Chaucer as well as "The Miller's Tale", "A Winter's Tale" and "King Lear" by Shakespeare and a few other novels I've forgotten.

A decent grounding but kinda wish I'd studied some English at University....

[ROC]

Oh wait, how did we not bring up J.D. Salinger?

To be fair, Salinger (I think) only wrote The Catcher in the Rye, but certainly that's a very classic book on its own right.

Never read it - it's not on the English English Literature curriculum.

Can't remember exactly what I read but I believe that for A Level (16-18 year old) we read: Tennyson & Browning poetry, "Return of the Native" by Thomas Hardy, "The Alchemist" by Ben Jonson, the Introduction to the Canterbury Tales by Chaucer as well as "The Miller's Tale", "A Winter's Tale" and "King Lear" by Shakespeare and a few other novels I've forgotten.

A decent grounding but kinda wish I'd studied some English at University....

[Pesci]

It's also that book that John Lennon's killer got obsessed with before he shot him. So it must be awesome.

[tristy]

Edward Lee & George Orwell.

[Plankton]

As far as contemporaries are concerned, Kut Vonnegut, Tim O'Brien, and John McNally are all good. For modernism, I like Dostoevsky.

Oh, and Sylvia Plath

EDIT: Oh yeah, and the real answer is Salinger. (Y)

Edited October 9, 2006 by Plankton

[ROC]

It's also that book that John Lennon's killer got obsessed with before he shot him. So it must be awesome.

[Fitzy]

Tim O'Brien