/lit/ - Literature

>>21649300
Houllebecq for zeitgeist prophet and McCarthy for prose.

Definitely not Vargas Llosa. Tbh if I were French, I would find it scandalous that this mummy who can barely speak French (see his speech) was elected for the Academie.

But, well, I guess everybody already knows France is not what it used to be.

>>21649304
The Passenger was awful.

Salman Rushdie

>>21649319
I haven't read that yet but I'd say that Blood Meridian alone keeps him up there as greatest living prose stylist.

>>21649300
Tao Lin

>>21649317
He’s Legion of Honor and Nobel Prize winner, even if his accent sucks, his writing is more than sufficient. Not like there are more relevant people in the Academie.

>>21649319
Filtered

>>21649328
Historically, maybe, but currently no.

Read him you pussies

>>21649335
No.

>>21649333
The man never wrote anything in French tho. Is there even a precedent?

>>21649304
>Houllebecq for zeitgeist prophet

In what way? You aren't a prophet when you're currently living in the society you're describing.

>>21649339
He's still alive though so his whole body of work counts towards the greatest living author, even if he is not the author who writes the best book in the current year.

I think Houellebecq has fallen off a bit too for that matter desu, Serotinine was a nice read as a Houllebecq enjoyer but it doesn't really add much to his oeuvre. The prediction of the yellow vests was cool though.

>>21649339
Who is?

>>21649348
He wrote about computer addled incels in the 90s who turn violent about sexual resentment. He published a book that involved Islamic terrorism that dropped just before 911. He was on the cover of Charlie Hebdo with Soumission while they were massacred by jihadists. He published a book about french working class revolt against the ills of globalisation just before the yellow vests. That's just off the top of my head but I think there were more.

>>21649352
Aneantir is better than The Passenger. Houellebecq wins.

>>21649333
He was also published by La Pleiade while alive. Extremely rare for a foreign author, I think.

elena ferrante. seethe

>>21649430
Ferrante is actually a man so I’m okay with this
https://lithub.com/have-italian-scholars-figured-out-the-identity-of-elena-ferrante/

>>21649376
Stella Maris is better than both.

>>21649366
None of these were him being prescient though, he was just reacting to shit that was already happening, because that's what he is, a reactionary.

>>21649435
would a phenomenal book series immediately lose all credit to you if it were written by a woman?

>>21649438
No, he was being prescient. Hence:

>>21649450
No.

>>21649438
No, he was always just ahead of the zeitgeist in a way that is easily overlooked in hindsight if you don't look at specific dates. He has an eye for where things are going that is rare.

>>21649438
He’s not a reactionary btw

>>21649493
He claims to not be a reactionary yes. Nazis also often hide their power level in public.

>>21649496
In your schizo head, maybe. In his books, he’s not.

>>21649510
He either wants to RETVRN to a previous state of affairs, OR he thinks the current state of affairs that he is describing is actually good, irrespective of which it is he's a charlatan and a fraud.

>>21649300
me

>>21649528
False dichotomy. He already explained his views. See: >>21649493

>>21649532
>everything's irreversible

In other words, the society he describes is actually good, so he is at minimum a conservative.

>>21649340
Sad.
No.

>>21649539
> the society he describes is actually good
??

>>21649300
Among the well-known ones?

Pynchon, John Barth, Vargas-Llosa, Handke, Adonis are probably the most influent among real writers.
Krasznahorkai, Lobo Antunes, Vila-Matas, McCarthy, Jacques Roubaud, Jon Fosse are also up there.

Houellebecq is influent in the media.

But if you want to know my opinion... The last truly great author was Geoffrey Hill. He died in 2016. There might be other ones I am not familiar with, of course...
My favourite living one is John Barth, because he's so funny. Roubaud, Pynchon, Krasznahorkai, Vila-Matas, and Vargas-Llosa are funny too.

>>21649539
>irreversible means it's good
based retard

>>21649577
Charlatan and a fraud it is then.

It’s Vargas Llosa, not Vargas-Llosa btw

>>21649654
Just because you don't think society can go back doesn't mean that you think it can't become better.

>>21649659
So he's a progressive? That's even more cringe.

>>21649671
>any change means being a progressive
>the taliban subscribe to progressivism because they changed afghanistan

based retard strikes again

>>21649679
You're the one who made the case that he was a progressive retard.

>>21649689
I never did such a thing.

>>21649438
What a retarded descriptor; everyone “reacts” to the society they live in.

>>21649708
But only a few people write books where they smugly look down on those that suffer like he does. All his books are humblebrags that the decrepit lives of his characters don't apply to him.

Don DeLillo
Leslie Marmon Silko
Cormac McCarthy
Kazuo Ishiguro
>tfw still can't accept that Toni Morrison is dead and always want to put her on these lists

>>21649319
A book as funny as The Passenger cannot be awful.

>>21649576
>Pynchon, Barth, Handke
>influential
Literary scene isn't made up of 500-copies-selling-no-name fucks.

Too restrictive. Best author who made it to 21st century instead.

In the English world, it is McCarthy. The biggest export (or 2nd biggest after Morrison) with the best regard among serious critics. Philip Meyer says he is the single biggest influence on English prose since Hemingway, so definitely gets points for influence. Morrison is his one true competition, with Marilynn Robinson, Don DeLillo and Alice Munro trailing. Coetzee is also up there definitely.

In the Spanish world, easy as fuck. GGM. The last millions selling serious writer before digital age killed off any possibility for books to receive that sort of success. Vargas-Llosa is also up there, as is Marias. Personal pick would also include Bolaño.

In Portugese there is Saramgo. I don't know anyone else besides Lobo Antunes, but he seems to be a meme here.

Among Europeans, Houellebecq (even though I dislike him), Knausgard, Krasznahorkai, Fosse, Solstad would qualify. The Elephant in the room would be Sebald. He has had a tremendous influence on 21st century autofiction. A mode many serious writers today are using.

Australians don't have anyone specially famous, but personally I would pick Murnane. He is amazing, if really niche.

Personal picks among avant garde writers would be Ben Marcus, Garielle Lutz, Vila Matas, Alan Kingsnorth, Alan Singer and Melchor.

>>21649894
I'm going to the library tomorrow to pick up Knausgård's new book, feeling pretty hyped.

>>21649894
Why do you dislike petit Michel?

>>21649930
His whining about modern socio-political climate doesn't vibe with me. As you can see I prefer my writers more abstract and universal.

>>21649319
But Stella Maris was something else.

CARLA QUEVEDO —DE HECHO, NO HE LEÍDO NADA DE SU OBRA, PERO, JUZGANDO POR SU APELLIDO, DEBE SER LA MEJOR VIVA.

>>21649894
>The biggest export (or 2nd biggest after Morrison)
lmao not true

>>21649894
See >>21649657

>>21649894
>Among Europeans
Saramago is European.

>>21650065
¿Por que´ te gusta Juan Pablo Villalobos? He visto que lo mencionas a veces.

>>21649894
>Ben Marcus
Age of Wire and String is a classic, but since then he's become the epitome of writer targetting MFA readers only. Everyone can admire his subversion of technical expectation, but the magic is gone.

> "Gary" Lutz
Oh jesus.

>>21650106


ES DE MI PATRIA CHICA, Y ME AGRADA SU ESTILO.

>>21650175
¿Alguna recomendación en específico?

>>21650180

>>21649576
>Adonis
>influential
Lol

>>21650187
Gracias.

Jacob Hurley

>>21649894
I only read Hurricane Season but I liked it a lot. Haven't read Paradais yet, so it might still prove me wrong, but you can hardly call Melchor avant garde.

>>21650190
well, he influenced me

>>21649300
I know that the /int/cels that have invaded this entire website like to shit on Dutch literature, and he published his best work in the 20th century but he is still alive and was still considered a serious candidate for the Nobel around a decade ago, so I'd throw Cees Nooteboom into the conversation as well. If only for the Following Story which somehow managed to combine all the major literary movements of the 20th century into one dense yet concise work.

>>21650101
He is grouping by language. So is Javier Marias and any British author he may mention for English.

>>21650741
> He is grouping by language
Not true. He put Houellebecq (French), Knausgard (Norwegian), Krasznahorkai (Hungarian) under European, but Saramago, a man from Portugal, Europe is somehow different.

>>21649300
Him.

>>21649348
Prophet is the wrong word, but the spirit of the reply was dead on.

>>21649778
Pynchon? Not influential? Nice b8.

>>21649894
Even lite and non-readers have heard of McCarthy and maybe Morrison but never DeLillo or Munro. They’re not worth mentioning together in this context.

>>21650065
Matáte

>>21650065
Why are you attracted to girls who sort of look like pretty female versions of you?

>>21650803
Lmao you're right.

>>21649300
MVLL

good post

murakami
pls don't bully

>>21649743
>Kazuo Ishiguro
Is it actually good ?
Stumbled upon the Remains of the Day at Waterstones, but didn't get it.

>>21649778
It has always been and always will be.
How many copies do you think Gerard Manley Hopkins, Mallarmé, Leopardi and Holderlin sold?

>>21650835
Yes, he's great. The Unconsoled is one of the great books of the last 30 years. His other books can be hit or miss, but many (Remains of the Day, Artist of the Floating World, Klara and the Sun) are great, and even his mid-tier stuff (Never Let Me Go; Buried Giant) is worth reading.

marilynne robinson

>>21649300
Jesus Christ, Yeshua ben Yusuf, God the Son (He is Risen)

>>21650803
Narcissism

>>21650190
I am talking about influence AMONG SERIOUS WRITERS AND ARTISTS.
Handke influenced Sebald. John Barth influenced many, including DFW. Pynchon influenced a lot of people in different languages. Roubaud is the major living Oulipo guy. Krasznahorkai influenced a great filmmaker like Bela Tarr. Adonis is the major living Arab poet, and is famously considered "the TS Eliot" of his language - and his poetry really is good, even in English translation.

No good writer has been influenced by a shit like Murakami or Knausgaard because no good writer can stand reading that crap.

Literary influence happens when one powerful author influences another, i.e., when someone with an original style has parts of his style present in newer, equally original styles.

The quantity of readers matter only for popularity.
My favourite "recent" writer was barely even read, but he was miles above someone like Saramago or Garcia Marquez, both of whom do nothing but write emotional stories for a middlebrow public which doesn't want to admit to itself that it would rather be watching a movie.
You won't see "booktubers" doing videos on Geoffrey Hill, Yves Bonnefoy, or Mario Luzi anytime soon.
Literature is made of words. The best writers are those who know how to use words best. But obviously those who use words best will sound incomprehensible to those who use them like journalists, in the same way Godel, Poincare, Von Neumann, and Grothendieck will sound incomprehensible to an engineer - which is why they don't often show up in "pop science" stuff.

>>21650090
Who is then?

>>21651071
America’s biggest book export is literally Stephen King.

>>21650779
He is not. The no dimes fucks that reddit and undergraduates here keep recommending hardly make up the literature scene. Cope Pynchud.

>>21650870
Mallarme's poetry is famous. Nobody thinks of him as Balzac or Hugo or Flaubert either. To say he was the most influential "among real writers" is bullshit just like that post was bullshit.

>>21651078
I meant biggest export among serious writers. I am already aware of King and writers like Hoover who sell way more.

>>21650065
Tremendo coomer este huevón y 0edo. Vade retro a tus cunny threads en /tv/, Kevin.

>>21650803
Narcissism

>>21650976
Yawn

What's the consensus? I'm not reading through all this shit

>>21651133
The consensus is I am the best living author. Cormac and King kneel before me.

>>21650976
Gaddis is more influential than all these guys because he influenced Pynchon and Barth. But also McElroy, DFW, Dara, Gass and a few others in other languages.

Pretty sure not more than 10k people in America have even heard of him. I understand your sentiment but it's a ridiculous call. Serious writers for you seem to be residue of either absurdism or postmodernism which is just wrong.

>>21650759
Portugese literature also includes Brazil. Spanish got its own space in the post similarly.

>>21651133
>/lit/ doesn't read
Surprising

>>21649304
Lmao stfu

It's most likely Llosa, unless I'm forgeting someone.

>>21651456
Spic

>>21649300
Vargas Llosa is the best alive.
>no tranny propaganda
>no negroes
>no tfw when no gf
Suck my dick if you disagree.

>>21651475
Not disagreeing but only writes political bullshit though

>>21651487
Not true.

>>21651091
>Nobody thinks of him as Balzac or Hugo or Flaubert

There have been many writers who considered Mallarmé as one of the great poets. I personally think he's better than Flaubert and Hugo (poet), and incomparably better than Balzac and Hugo (prose).
Also, Mallarmé's poetry is famous only in the same sense Handke (Nobel Prize winner), Adonis and others are also famous.

>>21651193
Gaddis is excellent, I agree, and Gass too.
But you know they're both dead, right? The thread is about living authors.
If we're going that route I might as well mention Shakespeare and Milton...

But you are right that my list favours a certain tradition. What list doesn't?
OP asked his question in an objective manner, and I gave an answer in an objective manner. Doesn't mean I think it's truly objective. I do have my personal criteria, however, but this thread is not the place to discuss them.

>>21651487
False.
Not that anon, but I only read one novel of his (Pantaleon) and it was about a big whorehose in the middle of the jungle, written in a variety of voices which frankly goes further than Faulkner's pseudo-biblical melodramas. It's a very funny book. I recommend.
Maybe I was lucky with the book I chose. Haven't read any others of his.

>>21651515
Civil war, national decay, and dictatorships are the background to some of his novels but I don’t think “he only writes about politics” is being fair. He has written erotic novels, dramas, short stories (like that one where a kid loses his penis due to a dog bite, etc).

>>21651505
You seem a decent bloke. Okay.
>Mallarme's poetry is famous in the same sense as handke and adunis
And you would agree that he is nowhere near as influential as Hugo, Balzac or Flaubert, right? Wasn't that the original point and not who is actually good?

>>21649300
TC Boyle
Javier Marias
Thomas Pynchon

>>21651653
>Javier Marías
>living
Anon, I…

>>21651577
True, I should have worded it better.
I'd still argue Balzac was not equally influential among writers who are actually serious about writing, if we judge influence not by number but by quality of influenced output, but this thread is probably not the place.

>>21651653
Marias died.

>>21651658
fugg i didn't realize he was dead :(

>>21650825
Murakami makes me feel good for some reason

>>21651685
Faggot jannies didn’t put a sticky even though we asked.

>>21650065
Jaja

>>21649366
I admire his audacity but sometimes he likes to shoot his mouth off about dumb shit

>>21649438
Life imitates art, faggot.

>>21649894
>I don't know anyone else besides Lobo Antunes, but he seems to be a meme here.
Why do you think so?

>>21650759
First he groups by language (Spanish, English, Portuguese), which includes countries both in Europe and the Americas. Then "Europeans" for other European nations/languages. Stop being butthurt.

Prince Harry

>>21650976
>No good writer has been influenced by a shit like Murakami or Knausgaard because no good writer can stand reading that crap.
Agree, specially regarding Knausgaard.

>>21650976
>My favourite "recent" writer was barely even read
Who?

Murakami by far

>>21652092
based Mura-chad

>>21649300
Not specific enough. We need to be talking writers' writers and art of prose stylists, who casts the longest shadow and has made a claim to an irrevocable place in the canon.

>>21649576
>Pynchon
>Handke
>Vila-Matas
>McCarthy
>Cortázar
Barth's relevant output was decades deep into the last century. The rest are all contenders.

>>21649300
this guy

>>21653446
Hey, I've seen his Boku no Yatsunasumi video

I only read dead authors.
Living ones can change and write garbage in their later lifes, do something cringe in public or private but dead ones have already produced their greatest works, scandals and retarded opinions.
No dead author tweets about current situations nor does he have retarded opinions there.

>>21653518
bit like musicians. dead ones are pure, they die in helicopter accidents or get shot by their girlfriends before they do anything cringe.
living ones always get tangled in some rape scandal or some other cringe thing.

>>21649300
McCarthy
Salam Rushdie
Jesus (the bible)
Kazuo Ishiguro
Marilynne Robinson

>>21653518
But every dead author you read, you will misread harder. Nietzsche knew that the only luck he'd had was to be born close enough to Mozart to understand him more profoundly than people born later ever would. Your favourite writer amy be out there now, crafting work you are uniquely well positioned to receive.

I like Julian Barnes a lot.

>>21653518
yeah that's why i never watch movies with actors who are still alive, the probability that they might turn pedo or sexual offender is just to high. Also it is a lot more fun jerking off to actors who are already dead and making fun of dead people is also based.

look at justin roiland, now rick and morty is ruined and i have to burn all my funkopop collection of rick and morty