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Who is the world's greatest living writer?

Started by aaaaaaaaaargh!, August 02, 2008, 12:04:48 AM

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I thought I'd chuck this in there seeing as we have two active threads going at present and am interested in hearing fellow VW opinions on this.  I'd also be interested in seeing if people could sway me from my current choice, namely Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (yes, he's still alive, he's 89 now, I hope I'm not cursing him).

I don't think I have ever read the works of someone who has been able to make my mind escape from my present life as much as his.  I'm aware that, as I haven't read his books in the original Russian, I am relying heavily on the work of the translator, but for me that does not diminish the quality of his stories.  I have been reading his books on and off for the last few years (One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich (the last line to that book, it's funny and horrible at the same time), The First Circle, Cancer Ward, The Gulag Archipelago and August 1914 so far).  Each one has been has been a fascinating story of life in Soviet Russia and interesting to cross reference against biographies of Stalin, Kruschev and general histories of 20th century Russia.  Cancer Ward in particular is a fantastic read, a semi-autobiographical story of patients going through therapy, it's bloody horrific stuff.

I had this debate with a friend a few years ago in the pub, they were adamant that Saul Bellow was the greatest living writer, but he died in 2005 so I think I won that particular round. 

Thoughts please...

drberbatov

#1
This guy thinks he is





I'm going for JG Ballard


Vitalstatistix

My knowledge is limited but I'll throw a suggestion into the mix:




JM Coetzee.

the midnight watch baboon

Quote from: drberbatov on August 02, 2008, 09:51:34 AM
This guy thinks he is





I'm going for JG Ballard



Who's the guy who thinks he is, dr? Blocked from work pc

Vitalstatistix


the midnight watch baboon

Thanks... Thought it was going to be Adam Thirwell.

Current writers, John Irving I like but found his recent novels disappointing. Hmmm neeed to think

Xander

Quote from: the midnight watch baboon on August 02, 2008, 11:49:59 AM
Thanks... Thought it was going to be Adam Thirwell.

Current writers, John Irving I like but found his recent novels disappointing. Hmmm neeed to think

I was just going to say John Irving. Not all of them are hugely intellectual with bucketfuls of subtext, but they are honest, engaging and very very funny.

Jemble Fred

In terms of communication and fascination, I think you'd have to genetically combine Stephen Fry with Billy Bragg, for me.

It depends on the form of writing you mean though – fuck that tagger, in screenwriting terms, it's definitely RTD. Even if he has just wasted some of the best years of his writing life on a KID'S SHOW.

papalaz4444244


Quote from: Jemble Fred on August 02, 2008, 12:11:16 PM
It depends on the form of writing you mean though – fuck that tagger, in screenwriting terms, it's definitely RTD. Even if he has just wasted some of the best years of his writing life on a KID'S SHOW.

The form of writing is whatever you want it to be, I wasn't planning on having the thread ghettoised into one particular field.

edit, what the fuck is that tag all about?


simondykes

I don't think you could actually say any single writer is 'the world's greatest',as even with authors I love,there are individual books which aren't as strong as others.So I'm going to rephrase it as 'possibly my favourite living writer' which would be Paul Auster.Not for 'The New York Trilogy' which I think is wildly overrated,but for the three books from the eighties,'Moon Palace','Leviathan' and 'The Music Of Chance',plus many other excellent books since.


Cerys

Quote from: Xander on August 02, 2008, 11:55:38 AM
I was just going to say John Irving. Not all of them are hugely intellectual with bucketfuls of subtext, but they are honest, engaging and very very funny.

Thirded.

Anon

I genuinely can't decide on a single 'greatest' writer, but if we're going to narrow it to a writer whose current output is of as high a quality as their earlier work (which does, sadly, mean I have to rule out J.G. Ballard here), then I'm going to have to go for Haruki Murakami.  His style's remarkably distinct, his books are if anything getting better over time (Kafka on the Shore, which I would consider to be his greatest masterpiece to date, only came out five years ago) and considering that in Europe and America his profile is only getting bigger, he's still an incredibly relevant writer as well.  That said, Thomas Pynchon is a brilliant writer too, but given that I haven't read Mason & Dixon or Against The Day yet, I can't really comment on his more recent work.  Kazuo Ishiguro probably deserves a mention here as well, even if for nothing else than the remarkable achievement that is The Unconsoled, a novel that (with any luck) will be judged by time to be the masterpiece that it is, and not just "that weird one by the guy who wrote that one about the butler that became a Merchant Ivory film".

simondykes

If Paul Auster had never put pen to paper,Murakami would be my choice too.'Hard Boiled Wonderland And The End Of The World' is one of the greatest books ever written.

rudi

Quote from: simondykes on August 02, 2008, 11:09:38 PM
If Paul Auster had never put pen to paper,Murakami would be my choice too.'Hard Boiled Wonderland And The End Of The World' is one of the greatest books ever written.


Ooh, so close! The answer actually is Murakami, you should have gone with your first answer there.

Murakami or Garcia Marquez for me. Has anybody read GGM's autobiography yet? I've been meaning to...

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Cambrian Times on August 02, 2008, 03:40:08 PM
Stephen King.

No no no no! And I'm not picking on your choice because it's a more populist one, I used to be very fond of the fella, but I shall never be able to forgive him for writing the tedious and somewhat pointless The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, which is the worst book I've ever read. Even thinking about it now is making me angry. So, erm, I'll stop.

I really love Rushdie's work, though prefer the earlier, funny ones. Well, you know what I mean, before he became a little too pretentious in places, a lot of his early work is a delight to read and his passion for writing shines thoughout.

rudi

Quote from: The Boston Crab on August 03, 2008, 01:15:36 AMHas anybody read GGM's autobiography yet? I've been meaning to...

What would be the point? It'd only claim he was able to fly at some point, or he wasn't born as such, but created from song and plastic. :)

Godsmith


Baxter

#20
If we're looking at all of their work and not basing on a scale biased towards their more recent works Pynchon and Ballard both get another vote from me, along with Ellis even if he did has piss all over everything with 'Lunar Park', and I do love Banks under either of his guises, a little bit too hard...It's too hard to choose! FUCK YOU the midnight watch baboon aaaaaaaaaargh!

the midnight watch baboon



CaledonianGonzo

Hmmmm....Muriel Spark's dead now, isn't she?

I'm plumping for Cormac McCarthy, with potentially Jose Saramago as his nearest rival. 

Umm...Günter Grass is still alive, but I've only read The Tin Drum.

For an obscure choice, how about Iain Sinclair?  Or John Banville?

In the field of comics (and probably my current favourite British author), it's gotta be Alan Moore.

the midnight watch baboon

Quote from: Baxter on August 03, 2008, 09:20:34 AM
Sorry my mistake.

Ok!
... I have been meaning to read John Banville's alter ego's crime fiction, Benjamin Black is the protagonist there I believe. Had The Sea for ages without reading it.

Saucer51


Patrick Suskind. There's next to no info about him, he's in no way prolific, he never does interviews, and his work sometimes doesn't even appear outside Germany, so there's no guarantee I'll be able to track it down - but I want to read everything he's ever done. He's brilliant too, not just Perfume but also Mr Sommer's Story, and to a lesser extent the Pigeon. If I hear this guy has something new out I have to read it. Paul Auster, by contrast, not understanding the love at all. He's always readable, but a lot of his stuff reads like fragments of a story that he has no ending for, so he just incorporates it into a bigger (lesser) story. Flashy wordgames, short on substance.

wherearethespoons

Quote from: something is sacred on August 03, 2008, 10:43:55 AM
Patrick Suskind.

Perfume is indeed wonderful and, whilst on the subject, one of the rare cases a film has actually done a book justice. The film is close to perfect in my opinion.

Quote from: something is sacred on August 03, 2008, 10:43:55 AM
Paul Auster, by contrast, not understanding the love at all. He's always readable, but a lot of his stuff reads like fragments of a story that he has no ending for, so he just incorporates it into a bigger (lesser) story. Flashy wordgames, short on substance.

I'd agree with that, and a lot of his work I've read has been samey. I think he publishes stuff because he knows it will sell now and I'm always left disappointed - he certainly doesn't seem to be able to write anything of great substance or to a decent length any more. Travels in the Scriptorium is quite possibly one of the worst books I've ever read; how can somebody seriously think that's worth releasing?

Having said all that, The New York Trilogy is great.  The Book of Illusions and The Red Notebook are worth a look too.

As for Murakami - I was disappointed with his stuff too. I bought a few of his books on recommendation a couple of years ago. I read A Wild Sheep Chase, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and Dance Dance Dance and just didn't like them at all. The stories didn't engage me or interest me that much and it was cluttered with lots of pop culture nonsense that just embarrassed me. I bought Norwegian Wood at the same time but haven't had the desire to pick it up.

wasp_f15ting

Philip Roth.

I don't think anyone is as consistently perverted as he is all the way through all of his works. Could the original posted do a list of all the ones that people are posting so we have some kind of list.

Works of his I like:-

Dying animal
Portnoy's complaint
The American pastoral

I need to read more of his stuff.

I have not seen human stain the film, any good? The book was so-so. The dying animal is getting turned into a film with Kingsley and Cruz..

I am interested in Saul Below if anyone has read his stuff.

Quote from: wasp_f15ting on August 03, 2008, 11:58:29 AM
Philip Roth.

I don't think anyone is as consistently perverted as he is all the way through all of his works. Could the original posted do a list of all the ones that people are posting so we have some kind of list.

Works of his I like:-

Dying animal
Portnoy's complaint
The American pastoral

I need to read more of his stuff.

I have not seen human stain the film, any good? The book was so-so. The dying animal is getting turned into a film with Kingsley and Cruz..

I am interested in Saul Below if anyone has read his stuff.

Portnoy's Complaint, American Pastoral, Herzog, Humbolt's Gift and Ravelstein are all on my reading list as it happens.  I've been lead to believe that Humbolt's Gift is the pick of those particular books.