Friends,
A while ago I asked for some input about who are the 128 greatest living prose fiction writers. I thank you for the input, and you'll be glad to know that I did absolutely nothing with that information.
But, this time it's different. I solved the blogging problem that had stifled me before. John Updike died, so the occasion for my idea is a bit more relevant now I think, though it has changed focus a little.
See my intention was to start another blog. And, I will start this blog once I can convince myself this is actually a good idea (I keep wavering on this to be honest, even right now I'm thinking, no, no this is stupid), or at least I hope to, that'll host a kind of literary tournament/debate. I'm going to cook up some brackets, pit author's against each other, and ask people to vote for who is the better author out of those two pitted against each other. Like, who's better Stuart Dybek or Steven Millhauser? Have people vote, and hopefully discuss their reasoning for their vote in the comments to get a literary conversation/fight going.
Of course since it's online I'm sure it'll just devolve into bickering and name calling, but I hope not. But, it might just start something if I can generate any kind of audience. I mean, it has an NCAA style tournament so that has some intrinsic value, plus we Americans love ranking and rating things, and bickering online is lots of fun, too, so maybe, maybe there's something there. But, damn, what if I'm just wasting my time, I don't want that (if you feel this is a waste of time, let me know in the comments, please...or if this already exists elsewhere on the interwebs and i just never found it).
But, here's a little problem I'm having right now. I narrowed my focus to just American writers not just fiction writers of English. Since Updike died, I kind of see it as an abdicated throne as to who is the best American literary/noteworthy/quality fiction writer alive. I got a list of 103 American writers (I believe they are American, as they live here and have citizenship, as fact checked by wikipedia...also I believe they are alive, so if I'm wrong on any of them, let me know). So I need 28 more. Who have I forgotten, let me kno (by the way, Alice Munro is a Canadian):
1. A.M. Homes
2. Adam Haslett
3. Aleksander Hemon
4. Alice McDermott
5. Allan Gurganus
6. Amy Hempel
7. Amy Tan
8. Ann Patchett
9. Anne Beattie
10. Annie Proulx
11. Barbara Kingslover
12. Barry Hannah
13. Bharati Mukherjee
14. Bobbie Ann Mason
15. Bret Easton Ellis
16. Charles Baxter
17. Charles D’Ambrosio
18. Colson Whitehead
19. Cormac McCarthy
20. Cynthia Ozick
21. Dan Chaon
22. Dave Eggers
23. David Leavitt
24. Denis Johnson
25. Don DeLilo
26. Dorothy Allison
27. E.L. Doctorow
28. Edward P. Jones
29. Edwidge Danticat
30. Elizabeth Spencer
31. Elmore Leonard
32. Ernest Gaines
33. Ethan Canin
34. Francine Prose
35. George Saunders
36. Geraldine Brooks
37. Gore Vidal
38. Ha Jin
39. Harper Lee
40. Harry Crews
41. J.D. Salinger
42. Jamaica Kincaid
43. Jane Smiley
44. Jayne Anne Phillips
45. Jeffrey Eugenides
46. Jhumpa Lahiri
47. Joanna Scott
48. John Barth
49. John Edgar Wideman
50. John Irving
51. Jonathan Franzen
52. Jonathan Lethem
53. Jonathan Safran Foer
54. Joy Williams
55. Joyce Carol Oates
56. Julia Glass
57. Junot Diaz
58. Kate Christensen
59. Kevin Brockmeier
60. Larry McMurtry
61. Lee Smith
62. Lily Tuck
63. Lorrie Moore
64. Louise Erdrich
65. Maile Meloy
66. Marilynne Robinson
67. Mark Helprin
68. Mary Gaitskill
69. Michael Chabon
70. Michael Cunningham
71. Nathan Englander
72. Nell Freudenberg
73. Peter Matthiessen
74. Philip Roth
75. Ray Bradbury
76. Richard Bausch
77. Richard Ford
78. Richard Powers
79. Richard Russo
80. Rick Moody
81. Robert Coover
82. Robert Olen Butler
83. Robert Stone
84. Russell Banks
85. Sabrina Murray
86. Sandra Cisneros
87. Sherman Alexie
88. Shirley Hazzard
89. Stephen King
90. Steven Millhauser
91. Stuart Dybek
92. Sue Miller
93. T.C. Boyle
94. Thom Jones
95. Thomas Pynchon
96. Tim O’Brien
97. Tobias Wolff
98. Toni Morrison
99. Ursula K. LeGuin
100. Walter Mosley
101. William Kennedy
102. William Vollman
103. ZZ Packer
thanks.
viva el mustache
Posts
7 comments:
I get what you're trying to do but I don't think I'd be any good at contributing to the debate. It would be like asking me to tell you which is better: Oreo cheesecake or tuna noodle casserole (with a crunchy potato chip topping.) I would say both are good, fantastic, excellent, different but equally delicious, and I couldn't possibly choose. I wouldn't want to. Wasn't it Henry James who said the house of fiction has many windows?
But it could be fun to watch others debate. Or it could be frustrating. It will be interesting to see.
Yeah, I'm with you Diana. That's why I'm not that fired up about it. Because why does there need to be someone better than the other. But, just an idea that I've been thinking about.
And I think I'm closer to that "this would be fun/frustrating" to see unfold, so I would make a poor moderator for it because I haven't read many of those authors, let alone qualified enough to debate it with an intellectual fervor.
It might be fun, though, to vary this a bit--instead of debating who's better, guest bloggers could post about why we should read their favorite book/author.
My boy Rick Bass, Jean Thompson, Richard Yates, Mark Richard, Padgett Powell.
Is this list only of fiction writers? Because I notice a lack of poets. If you were extending to screenwriters, I'd add Scott Frank and David Mamet (also for playwriting).
Fictionwise, I'd add Neil Gaiman, Kevin Brockmeier, and Amy Tan.
Richard Yates is dead. I'd throw Aimee Bender, Percival Everett, and Joe Meno out there. Bender and Everett are a couple of my favorites. Meno's latest short story collection has been named a finalist for the 2009 Story Prize (the other two finalists are Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth and Wolff's Our Story Begins, so pretty good company) and he's also one of my favorites.
I kind of have a man crush on Kevin Brockmeier. So I second adding him.
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