50 Greatest Brit Writers

[SpaceOddity]

According to The Times (since the war)...

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.u k/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3127837.ece

[Sycophant]

I've only read books my 6 of these authors. About half of those authors are those who I would not consider myself to have "read."

I fail.

[D_Davis]

JK Rowling better than Michael Moorcock? Please. This is an insult to the English language. What a travesty. Moorcock helped to define and redefine the conventions of multiple genres, and his prose is often illustrious. Rowling wrote some pretty good books mired in genre convention that became extremely popular. Is this a popularity contest, a bank-account contest, or a contest to determine who really is the "greatest" writer?

At least J.G. Ballard is higher up.

I would also put C.S. Lewis a lot higher than Tolkien.

Nice to see Mervyn Peake and Iain Banks as well.

[Russ]

Seems like they could have included John Wyndham.

[Duncan]

Hmm, I've never even heard of Larkin...

[lovejuice]

Hmm, I've never even heard of Larkin...

i shamefully admit that me neither.

folks who, i think, are placed too high.

1. Philip Larkin
5. Doris Lessing (please...i like her, but she's there mainly because of the recent noble prize.)
7. V. S. Naipaul
19. Martin Amis
43. Philip Pullman (should not even be included)

folks who, i think, are placed too low.

16. Roald Dahl
32. Kazuo Ishiguro
35. Ian McEwan

[Ezee E]

I probably couldn't name 50 Brit writers.

[lovejuice]

ok, this larkin guys is some sorta poet. he doesn't write that much fiction, so he might actually be famous in his field.

:add his name on the list of folks who are way too high:

[jesse]

Kinda shows how little I've read of contemporary Brit lit. Kinda surprised Zadie Smith didn't sneak in on the bottom...

[Melville]

Hmm, I've never even heard of Larkin...
I haven't either. Actually, I haven't heard of half of those authors.

[jesse]

I haven't either. Actually, I haven't heard of half of those authors. He's a poet, and MC has never really struck me as being as interested in poetry as, say, the novel...

[lovejuice]

He's a poet, and MC has never really struck me as being as interested in poetry as, say, the novel...

yes, i guess if there's anyone among us who know the guy, it has to be you. but seriously though, is he actually that great?

[Sycophant]

He's a poet, and MC has never really struck me as being as interested in poetry as, say, the novel...
yes, i guess if there's anyone among us who know the guy, it has to be you. but seriously though, is poetry actually that great?

[SpaceOddity]

yes, i guess if there's anyone among us who know the guy, it has to be you. but seriously though, is poetry actually that great?

If you discount poetry aren't you demoting Shakespeare?

[jesse]

yes, i guess if there's anyone among us who know the guy, it has to be you. but seriously though, is poetry actually that great? I haven't always been one of the converted, but yes, yes it is. And taking it one step further, I'll even say that at its best it trumps prose.

And lovejuice, I'm actually not all that familiar with Larkin myself. I've read some of his stuff, but I couldn't name any titles off the top of my head... But I do have to say, I think Ted Hughes is much too high...

[Melville]

I might be wrong here, but I'm pretty sure Sycophant was just joking.

As for Match Cut's seeming disregard for poetry, I will say that I really like poetry when I read it, but for some reason I very rarely do so.

[Sycophant]

I might be wrong here, but I'm pretty sure Sycophant was just joking.

As for Match Cut's seeming disregard for poetry, I will say that I really like poetry when I read it, but for some reason I very rarely do so.Indeed, I was mostly joking. I occasionally curl up with my volume of Emily Dickinson, but I rarely do that. And I'd certainly classify Shakespeare as a playwright before I would a poet (though it's been ages since I've read his sonnets).

Perhaps it's because the majority of poetry I've encountered since high school has largely consisted of the sort of things that pop up on LiveJournals, is deemed "inspirational", or whiny-ass liberal rants at political rallies, usually characterized by poorly constructed couplets or a complete disregard for cadence.

Again, I've read poetry I've liked. Still do occasionally. I recognize there's great stuff, but I don't find it as fulfilling as other media, so I don't spend a lot of time with it and certainly don't seek it out.

And, yeah, it was a joke I totally wouldn't have made, had lovejuice not constructed his sentence just so.

EDIT: Oh, and I'm a philistine.

[jesse]

I might be wrong here, but I'm pretty sure Sycophant was just joking. Perhaps, but I still probably would have given the same response. Poetry is too often dismissed as being esoteric or out-of-touch, which is really a shame because that's really not the case.

I was reading a lot of poetry there for a while last year, but it's been a good while since I've cracked open a poetry book. I really should change that.

[jesse]

Perhaps it's because the majority of poetry I've encountered since high school has largely consisted of the sort of things that pop up on LiveJournals, is deemed "inspirational", or whiny-ass liberal rants at political rallies, usually characterized by poorly constructed couplets or a complete disregard for cadence. Oh, well yes, but that goes for anything--creative prose, film reviewing, even journalism. The downside of blogs, message boards, etc is that it makes public a lot of ramblings/jottings/practice that in the past would have been kept hidden in personal notebooks.

As an addendum to my last post though, I will say that reading poetry is an acquired skill, or at least it was for me.

[Sycophant]

As an addendum to my last post though, I will say that reading poetry is an acquired skill, or at least it was for me.
I can certainly appreciate that. Maybe one day I'll crack open some poetry and really figure out what to do with it, but I'm still just really adjusting to doing a lot of prose reading.

[SpaceOddity]

And I'd certainly classify Shakespeare as a playwright before I would a poet (though it's been ages since I've read his sonnets).

His plays are predominantly poetry, iambic pentameter.

I've only read 22 from The Times list.

[monolith94]

Philip Larkin is probably the premier British poet of the late 20th century.

Although, to be fair, I didn't really know him either until I had to study him for my seminar in modern poetry class. He's a bitter pill.

[monolith94]

Oh, and I've read at least some of:

1. Philip Larkin
2. George Orwell
3. William Golding
6. J. R. R. Tolkien
11. C. S. Lewis
16. Roald Dahl
42. J. K. Rowling
43. Philip Pullman

very amusing placement of those last two.