Greatest author of all times

[ghostofcorwin]

If we're going to mention Shakespeare, we should also mention Aristotle who invented the theatric principles used by Shakesepeare.

Oye....

 

[chongjasmine]

I don't really like Shakespeare.

 

[Vladd67]

If you ever get the chance go and see a play at The Globe theatre. Nothing seems to bring Shakespeare alive than watching his plays performed in their original* setting.








*Ok I know its a modern copy of the original theatre but it's as close as you are going to get.
P.S. Make sure you hire a cushion those benches are hard.

 

[Connavar]

I see the greatness,importance of Shakespeare but i think his importance is overrated because of the English language which is a global language for historical reasons.

I think Homer is greater in importance simply because Shakespeare have to be read in 1500+ years to be like him. Not talking about quality or personal taste.

 

[chongjasmine]

I don't really like Shakespeare because I consider him to be a playwright rather than a novelist. I don't really like plays. I prefer novels to plays. Therefore, the greatest author of all times for me, will not be shakespeare.

 

[Dimentio]

For me it'd have to be Alexandre Dumas (père). The Count of Monte Cristo, even though I've only ever read it in translation, is my absolute favourite story.

The rest of his work is generally excellent, and remains popular worldwide. He set out to write engaging, adventurous stories that would captivate his audiences, and succeeded marvellously.

He had an office with a dozen or so young authors helping him to write his novels. Miguel Cervantes is fascinating I think.

 

[hectic]

Bradbury

 

[thatollie]

He had an office with a dozen or so young authors helping him to write his novels. Miguel Cervantes is fascinating I think.

I didn't know that, but I've always preferred Verne over Dumas.

 

[Extollager]

There's a thread for the greatest fiction writer of the last 200 years. Over there, I was asked who I thought the greatest author of them all might be.

The Greatest Author of Fiction of the Past 200 Years: Who?

I am posting my answer here so that the other thread doesn't get taken over by this question.

...For one thing, Gollum, your question about the greatest author of all must require us to consider the claims of great poets, as you indicated. But it's debatable whether or not poetry really can be translated. I can read Fitzgerald's Homer, but that's not Homer. Regrettably, I know only English.

Yes, I have nominated an author who wrote in Russian as the greatest author of fiction of the past 200 years. But he was a prose writer. Prose, everyone agrees, is much more translatable than poetry. Dostoevsky in Pevear and Volokhonsky is a great author (though I don't doubt that he is more wonderful still for those who can read his Russian). But I assume a very great deal is lost when one reads the poetry of Homer, Dante, Goethe in translation -- well, indeed one isn't reading their poetry. I must recuse myself from considering those great poets. If I eliminate these and confine myself to writers (including poets) whom I can read (in English) and writers whom I can read in what I trust are "sufficient" prose translations, then one certainly would want to discuss the claims of Shakespeare. One thing that might limit him -- if it isn't unbecoming to speak of Shakespeare being limited -- is the limitation of the stage. He must work, among other things, within a playing time of no more than three hours or so. The great novelists don't face that limitation. But part of Shakespeare's greatness is that one doesn't feel he had to skimp on the development of his themes (etc.) because of time limits.

NOTE TO MODERATORS: Could this thread be moved to the Literary Fiction subforum, please? Thank you.

 

[Extollager]

If we're going to mention Shakespeare, we should also mention Aristotle who invented the theatric principles used by Shakesepeare.

Shakespeare flaunted his departure from them in The Winter's Tale, etc.

 

[tylenol4000]

Philip K Dick.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

But it's debatable whether or not poetry really can be translated.

Oddly Old Testament Hebrew can. It uses repeated same idea in pairs of verses rather than rhyme! Check out the Psalms (there are other examples such as parts of the Song of Deborah "Out of the window she peered,the mother of Sisera gazed through the lattice:'Why is his chariot so long in coming?Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?'")
Judges 5: 2-31
(Jael & Deborah were not ladies to mess about (Yael & Devorah)
There you have two sets of repeats. This is supposed to be much older than Psalms. (12th C. BC?)
Of course Hebrew also makes extensive use of puns, as Yael and Devorah are "like" the Hebrew for Goat and Bee, so Goat (Jael) and Bee (Deborah) save the Land of Milk & Honey. (I forget which verse). There are many humourus puns in Bible, all lost in translation, but most of the poetry doesn't depend on them. (God to Moses: I am that I am. A pun on the name of God!)

 

[BAYLOR]

Harlan Ellison , a truly great writer .

 

[Extollager]

Dick or Ellison the greatest author of all times?

You guys need to get out more.

 

[johnnyjet]

Dick or Ellison the greatest author of all times?

And I was just about to jump in and agree with them!

Actually, Dick is my all-time favorite author (which of course doesn't mean he's the greatest author of all time, just in my mind) and Ellison is another favorite who wrote a lot of interesting stuff that wowed my younger self many years ago.

But greatest author of all time, that's a tough one, and certainly open for a lot of debate and personal preferences. My first thought, however, is Charles Dickens.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

You guys need to get out more.

To me it's an unanswerable question as few non-English texts are in English, books from particular authors vary (I like some Joanne Harris a lot, some others I find terrible, same with Anthony Trollope, Brian Aldiss, A.C. Clarke, Asimov etc).
Also my taste at 10, 15, 20s, 40s and 60s are different.
I've only considered the quality of the writing in the last couple of years rather than how much I enjoyed the book. Of course if a book was wonderful technically but a story that didn't entertain, can we call that evidence of a good or greatest author?

Any kind of poll has a problem as niche genres, lesser known, non-English* and older works are under represented. Also this is self selecting survey on Internet, which rules out all those book lovers that won't touch the Internet, people that don't read much, people not on Chrons and people who don't volunteer opinions.

So the only value is if people say why they really like an author and what they write for a reader that doesn't know the Author. A list of names isn't much use

I'd struggle to think of any author I read that stands high above the others. How do I even rate or compare Enid Blyton, Chekov, Wilkie Collins, Harry Harrison, C.J. Cherryh and Ursula Le Guin?


[* Far more English language is translated to other Languages than vice versa, though in the past a lot of Russian was translated (But the majority to satellite USSR languages rather than English)]

 

[PartialMitch]

All time? Homer or whoever really wrote the Iliad, IMHO. It influenced pretty much the entire span of Western lit and still remains gripping and meaningful to this day.

 

[BAYLOR]

Dick or Ellison the greatest author of all times?

You guys need to get out more.

Leo Tolstoy
Herman Melville
Victor Hugo