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/lit/ - Literature

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12084243 No.12084243 [Reply] [Original]

Who's the best American to ever do it?
>short stories
>poetry
>novels
>plays (lol)

>> No.12084258

Whitman, Ellison, Melville, Faulkner, O'Connor, T.S. Eliot, Morrison. Those are my GOATs at least.

>> No.12084290

>>12084258
I would add Henry James and subtract Morrison, but I haven’t read her I’m just racist

>> No.12084300

All American poetry starts with Whitman. From there I say Dickinson, Stevens, and Crane. All of these are preferable to Eliot.

>>12084290
You're a plebescite but at least you're honest about it

>> No.12084307

>>12084300
*plebeian*, autokorrekt

>> No.12084315

short story

Hemingway

poetry

Whitman or Dickinson or Stevens

novels

Melville or Faulkner

plays

Tennessee Williams

>> No.12084318

>>12084300
I wouldnt really classify Eliot as American poetry same as I wouldnt classify Nabokov as American fiction

>> No.12084321

>>12084243
Poetry:
Walt Whitman
Emily Dickinson
Wallace Stevens
Hart Crane
T.S. Eliot

>> No.12084328

>>12084243
Wherever you put him, Poe absolutely has to go somewhere on the list of great Americans.

He’s like the Dostoevsky of America in that soulless aestheticists thinks he’s shit-tier, but one cannot read him without denying there is an element of irrepressible genius and singleness to him. He’s a mutant, an anomaly, a combination of shit aesthetic/literary sensibilities and absolutely perfect, impeccable sensibilities. The Purloined Letter should be much more of a classic of American literature than it currently is.

>> No.12084331

>>12084318
Eliot himself said he was actually more an American poet than an English one

>> No.12084335

>>12084331
regardless, would you really classify his most famous work The Waste Land as an American effort? It's filled with English themes, speech and allusions

>> No.12084338

>>12084243
>Salinger
>Dickinson
>Gaddis
>Miller

All other answers are wrong

>> No.12084348

>>12084335
The Waste Land shouldn't be his measure. It's not his best work. Certainly not his most mature work.

>> No.12084349
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12084349

>>12084338
>salinger

>> No.12084352

>>12084349
u read his short stories?

>> No.12084357
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12084357

>>12084243
>Faulkner
>Crane (cause Whitman is too obvious)
>Faulkner
>Faulkner
Hemingfags need not apply

>> No.12084358

>>12084348
but it is his most famous and influential

>> No.12084364

>>12084352
ya, they were garbage.

>> No.12084368

>>12084364
then ur a pseud faggot with bad taste lolllllllllllllllllllllll!

>> No.12084377

Me

>> No.12084380

Where do I start with O'Neil? Do people scraggly read him

>> No.12084382

>>12084364
Esme and Banana Fish were kino.

>> No.12084383

>>12084380
long day's journey into night

>> No.12084387

>>12084243
SS: Poe, Fitzgerald, Hemingwat, Salinger
Poetry: Dickinson but they suck at this, inb4 Whitman, don't make me laugh.
Novels: Melville, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Faulkner.
Plays: Who cares, they probably suck.

>> No.12084414

>>12084338
Extremely pleb.

>> No.12084419
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12084419

>>12084387
>has Poe as a short story great
>disses Whitman and ignores Tennessee Williams

>> No.12084478
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12084478

May not be the GOAT but his flavor has been copied by a lot of fry cook writers. Considering the constraints he worked under, he puts most of the aspiring writers here to shame (then again it is /lit/)

>> No.12084502

>>12084478
Eh, he's okay. Don't think he ever lived up to his potential. I honestly think even someone like Denis Johnson or Richard Brautigan is better. Raymond Carver just feels so safe and derivative to me.

>> No.12084528 [SPOILER] 
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12084528

>>12084243
*blocks your path*

>> No.12084672

>>12084358
Four Quartets is better, people are just assigned The Waste Land in undergrad

>> No.12085506

Bump for John Green

>> No.12085516

>>12084478
came here to post him. Probably my favorite american short story writer.

>> No.12085529

>>12084243
19th Century
>Ambrose Bierce
>Whitman
>Hawthorne
>???
20th Century
>Carver
>Frost
>Steinbeck
>Tennessee Williams

>> No.12085638

>>12084243

> American authors

That will be a yikes from me

>> No.12085650

>>12084243
>short story
Hemingway

>poetry
Stevens

>novel
Faulkner

>drama
Toss up between Eugene O’Neill and Arthur Miller

>> No.12085662

>>12084380
The Iceman Cometh
Long Day’s Journey Into Night
A Moon for the Misbegotten
Desire Under the Elms

>> No.12085797

>>12084419
Nothing wrong with that. Poe is a giant.

>> No.12085987 [SPOILER] 
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12085987

In my opinion the true master of short stories was Edgar Allan Poe.
Hope I will get some hate.

>> No.12086028

Ss: Donald Barthelme or Eudora Welty
Poetry: Stevens
Novel: Faulkner
Plays: Tom Stoppard

>> No.12086045

>>12084243

>short stories
Asimov and Poe

>poetry
Robert Frost and Emily Dickenson are always solid reads. Wallace Stevens peters out after Harmonium.

>novel
Too many did it well enough, though Toole's Confederacy of Dunces and Williams's Stoner would be my tie for a desert island read.

>drama
Paddy Chayefsky. Marty will always be a favorite of mine.

>>12085638
English your second language?

>> No.12086053
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12086053

>short story
shel silverstein
>poetry
maya angelu
>novels
john grisham for the masses and . DFW for english majors who actually know how to interpret literature. i can appreciate both
>plays
lin-manuel miranda

dont debate me. you'll lose. i am a published author, so i know what people want. i also am educated, and know the themes and symbols of what makes something appreciated by somewhat with brains like an english professor.

>> No.12086074
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12086074

>>12085797
>>12085987
I do like Poe, but I think he is generall overrated. That doesn't bother me usually as there are much worse authors to overrate. But scoffing at Whitman and saying Poe is a GOAT in the same post is just retarded.

>> No.12086080
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12086080

>>12086053
shut the fuck up

>> No.12086096

>>12086045
>Toole's Confederacy of Dunces and Williams's Stoner would be my tie for a desert island read.
im surprised, you probably actually enjoy reading

>> No.12086098

>>12085662
The Iceman Cometh sounds great. There's a Library of America O'Neill volume at my UBS, wonder if that's in it.

>> No.12086105

>>12086028
>American
>Tom Stoppard

>> No.12086784

Steinbeck is too prolific and great to not be the best novelist

>> No.12087558

>>12086053
Agreed. As someone who has published many books at both Cambridge University Press and Penguin I would have to add John Green to your list.

>> No.12087565
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12087565

>>12084243
Waiting for Alaska changed my life.

>> No.12087584

>>12084243
>short stories
hemingway
>poetry
dickinson
>novels
melville
>plays
dunno

>> No.12087589

>>12087584
actually not hem, lovecraft

>> No.12087609

>Americans
eww