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Poll

Who has produced the greatest body of literary art?

William Shakespeare
Dante Alighieri
Homer
The Deuteronomist
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Leo Tolstoy
James Joyce
Plato
Marcel Proust
William Faulkner
Walt Whitman
Miguel de Cervantes
Charles Dickens
John Milton
F. Scott Fitzgerald
George Orwell
Franz Kafka
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Virginia Woolf
Edgar Allen Poe
King James Bible Translators

Author Topic: The Greatest Literary Artist  (Read 10353 times)

Bondo

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Re: The Greatest Literary Artist
« Reply #10 on: June 17, 2011, 07:29:00 AM »
Out of those I'm gonna have to go Shakespeare.

I like the idea of The Divine Comedy but it was a bear to try to get through. Reading Plato is even more of a nightmare. Homer's solid. Haven't read any of the others.

I'd throw in Bradbury and Poe though. Not sure if I'd put them ahead of Shakespeare but they'd go ahead of everyone else mentioned (Orwell's another one that would be fairly close but I've only really read the two main works and didn't like Animal Farm).

FLYmeatwad

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Re: The Greatest Literary Artist
« Reply #11 on: June 17, 2011, 08:50:52 AM »
This really all depends on what one considers to be literature. I'll give it some thought.

'Noke

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Re: The Greatest Literary Artist
« Reply #12 on: June 17, 2011, 08:56:03 AM »
Alan Moore?
I actually consider a lot of movies to be life-changing! I take them to my heart and they melt into my personality.

FLYmeatwad

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Re: The Greatest Literary Artist
« Reply #13 on: June 17, 2011, 08:58:06 AM »
The answer I should be giving, in all likelihood, is Poe or Thornton Wilder. Maybe McCarthy, but I haven't read enough from him yet. The answer I believe to be true is Hideo Kojima or Bob Dylan. Maybe Darnielle. Actually, probably him too.

FifthCityMuse

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Re: The Greatest Literary Artist
« Reply #14 on: June 17, 2011, 09:23:26 AM »
No women? (God I need a new routine.)

Not Sappho? Or Austen? Or one of the Brontes? Or Woolf?

Really the list just shows my lack of education, but I would say it's not too soon to consider David Foster Wallace for inclusion, nor should the prose of Shirley Hazzard be excluded, but seeing as I'm the only one here familiar with her, I'll just move to the corner.

MartinTeller

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Re: The Greatest Literary Artist
« Reply #15 on: June 17, 2011, 09:37:09 AM »
As far as personal tastes go, my vote would be Dickens (why is he listed twice?) or Kafka.  However, even though I'm not really a fan, I went with Shakespeare because you just can't deny the massive impact he's had on nearly every aspect of culture.

I'm not nearly well-read enough for this poll.  People I've never read anything by: Dante, Homer, Tolstoy, Joyce, Proust, Milton, Goethe.  And several of the others I've read small amounts of.

FLYmeatwad

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Re: The Greatest Literary Artist
« Reply #16 on: June 17, 2011, 10:00:28 AM »
Woolf is also a great choice. FLY likes Dickenson a lot (who doesn't?), but that's mostly just a lot of poems without titles.

Bondo

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Re: The Greatest Literary Artist
« Reply #17 on: June 17, 2011, 10:52:03 AM »
No women? (God I need a new routine.)

They already made it clear if I mentioned JK Rowling I'd be teased (much less Suzanne Collins or Stephanie Meyer).

I should probably throw Philip Pullman in the mix, I think he's actually who I'd choose. Between His Dark Materials and the Sally Lockhart trilogy he's got a strong presence. Or Max Barry (Australian). All three of his released books have been great, looking forward to the fourth due out fairly soon.

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: The Greatest Literary Artist
« Reply #18 on: June 17, 2011, 10:56:51 AM »
Dickens twice? Which one do I vote for?

FroHam X

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Re: The Greatest Literary Artist
« Reply #19 on: June 17, 2011, 11:02:45 AM »
Dickens twice? Which one do I vote for?

If only Danny Boyle was a choice.
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