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/lit/ - Literature

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1217614 No.1217614 [Reply] [Original]

Any O. Henry readers in /lit/?

In my humble opinion, O. Henry and F. Scott Fitzgerald were pioneers of a writing style distinctly American in flavour and ingenuity. Opinions, /lit/?

Also, I prefer Fitzgerald's short stories to his novels.

>> No.1217622

You're forgetting about Mark Twain, eh?

>> No.1217633

I don't see how you can compare Fitzgerald to O Henry. That's insane. O Henry is an exemplar of a much earlier, less mature era in American letters. I don't see how you can pick the two of them out, specifically, to typify any distinctive American literature.

As for O Henry himself, he's okay, stylistically decent but not really 'deep' or anything. Honestly, he's an inferior writer. I mean, shit like O Henry is really an example of what American literature was before people like Cather and Dreiser and Mencken came along.

>> No.1217634

>>1217622
While I do enjoy Mark Twain, I feel like Henry and Fitzgerald probed deeper into human emotion. Twain was really more of a social critic and wiseguy.

>> No.1217654

Ever hear of a man named Walt Whitman?

>> No.1217659
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1217659

>>1217654
Sup

>> No.1217663

>>1217634
Yeah, a white trash kid and a black slave attempting to achieve an ultimately unknowable freedom sure does lack emotion.

>> No.1217678

O. Henry always rouses strong emotions in me every time I read his stories. Bring up, for example, "A Retrieved Reformation." Or "A Chaparral Prince." GAR as fuck.