Okay lit, who is the greatest American writer? Could be for anything: poetry, novels, essays, etc. As long as its a written text.
My vote goes in for Mark Twain for the wit in his all his works and his ability to charmingly satirize any and all aspects of society.
Other candidates Id support are:
Faulkner, Nabokov, Melville, Jefferson
FUCK YOU
Stephenie Meyer
Steinbeck
Ahahhshshaha
What is your definition of an American author?
For me, it's Cline
I guess someone whose writing specifically deals with the prevailing ideological themes of the country and its society.
So freedom, pioneering, hope for prosperity, integration/clash of cultures, observations of the shortcomings of simple society, bold risk for ingenuity, stuff like that.
Faulkner or Melville. Twain is good, but not on par with those two.
Twain doesn't have the artistic breadth of a truly great writer. He's a giant dwarf, like Dickens.
We have this thread a lot, we all know the top 5 is Melville, Faulkner, James, Whitman and Dickinson
I'd've agreed about Twain until I picked up Joan of Arc recently. Excellent work, all the more from such a cynic, and breaks way out of his usual mold.
Your top 5 is on point, though in a discussion of best American writers I'd have to give a top 6 and include O'Connor.
Bukowski
melville, althought I haven't read faulkner
David Foster Wallace
Nabokov isn't American. But the answer is Melville or Faulkner.
I love Steinbeck, my friend says he's too grounded and boring though. He's a heavy drug user; I stay away in case they make me hate Steinbeck
*writes greatest novel in history*
Whitman.
Although many will say Faulkner, and they're close, it is James Fenimore Cooper.
>O'Connor
She's good but is she great?
Fitzgerald for pointing out the decadence and materialistic rot within American culture. Read by almost everyone in high school and changes nobody
Fitzgerald is trash praised by morons.
Unironically thinking its some old white boi
James