Greatest American fiction novelist?
 

Who is it? Pick him/her, and qualify.

Moby Dick is clearly the greatest single American novel, but William Faulkner is our greatest novelist. Over four decades he consistently created brilliant, fully realized characters, and did so with a blend of technique and humanity that will likely never be matched. He appropriated the innovations made by European modernists like Joyce and Woolf, and made them both his own and distinctly American. And unlike some of his contemporaries -- Hemingway and Fitzgerald, in particular -- he explored a wide breadth of material. Sure, most of his novels are set in his Yoknapatawpha County (an imagined world that rivals Tolkien's), but his heroes and heroines are from every walk of life.

One response? How underwhelming.

Is Moby Dick better than Lolita?

Book forum is notoriously slow :( ...I haven't read either of those completely so I can't say really.

Faulkner is greatest novelist hands down....greatest novel...so many, many, many to choose from that I couldn't even begin to say... My favorite is "The Grapes of Wrath" and I'd put it in the running for greatest, but I don't know really.

I thought Lolita was written by a Russian - or is it just a Russian named american?

Nabokov was born in Russia, then emigrated to America, and, yes, Moby Dick is better than Lolita. I just love making definitive statements like that. ;)

Ziggy, I'm just curious. What is it about The Grapes of Wrath that you're so fond of? I only ask because it's one of those "great" novels that I've just never connected with.

Moby Dick is awful...how's that for definitive? :)

Seriously, one of the most boring, over-rated books I've ever read. I've never understood the love it receives.

I agree about "Moby Dick," it's practically unreadable.

My votes for greatest LIVING writer: John Updike, hands-down. Greatest writer of the past, and I cannot believe nobody has mentioned him, Mark Twain.

Mark Twain is the American Novelist, not just because I like his books but because he put the American vernacular into writing. Several other writers can be given credit for this, but Mark Twain was the most affluent.

Another vote for Mark Twain.
His books were written for the common man

Pedantic, moi?
 

.... although I'm sure I read somewhere that Sam Clemens went through a period of poverty in his later years as a result of bad investments.

Uhh, The Grapes of Wrath was written by John Steinbeck.

IMO, Lolita is much better than Moby Dick. I think it's one of the very greatest novels I've ever read. All the more remarkable, it is a great American novel written by someone who, when he came to America, spoke almost no English.

As far as Faulkner, I think The Sound and the Fury is truly great.

Um, duh sh|t :) ..... I suppose I should have segued that better...Faulkner is the best novelist, though my favorite novel is The Grapes of Wrath, by Steinbeck.

Darren H, its hard to say why I liked it so much, I think I just really connected with the characters. There is more, but I can't seem to explain it right now.

I see what you were saying now. The way I read it, the whole paragraph was about Faulkner. Sorry.

's ok :) I don't make myself clear sometimes ...plus, I was probably typing while sleep deprived - I usually am.

:thumbsup:

Mark Twain would probably be the first to come to mind, but a few others would be in the running:

F. Scott Fitzgerald
Hemingway
Faulkner

Faulkner or Fitzgerald.

Take your pick.

Theodore Geisel


:)

:thumbsup:

I'll throw down a modern pick:

Michael Chabon.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is one of the best books I've read in years. The characters are amazingly real and the writing is fantastic. Truely a great American novel.

How about Steinbeck, haven't read him in a while, but I really enjoy his writing.

Actually, Nabokov grew up speaking English, French and Russian and in fact learned to read and write in English before he did so in Russian.

I agree about Lolita v. Moby Dick.

I made that previous post based on what I had heard. Doing a little bit of research, I can verify that you are correct about Nabokov's English. In his own words, he said English was his first language:

http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/0...ab-v-talk.html

Thanks, dork, for correcting my error and teaching me something. :thumbsup:

I know it shouldn't technically count, but I would nominate Nabokov for Pale Fire

Otherwise, this late at night I'd have to say Melville (Billy Budd is one of my favorites)

Living or dead? Living, Gene Wolfe.