Modern Authors Are Awesome !

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Ken

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Greatness. When it comes to listing authors and novels that are so the goto often seems to be ones from bygone eras. Hemingway; Dostoyevsky; Dickens; Austen; Twain; Bronte and in terms of books, Wuthering Heights, War & Peace, The Iliad, etc. It is fine to say those are great books and authors. But come on. There are many, many authors of our own times who are just as capable. Same of novels. We should be celebrating those as well. Sure, they are respected and some do give them their proper R.E.S.P.E.C.T, as Aretha puts it. Not nearly as much as they deserve though IMO.

Readers also deserve props. Just go into a bookstore these days and the novels on the shelves testify to their good taste and discernment.

In short, I applaud our era and lament that this isn't the general sentiment among everyone, though probably as I suspect much more people on AW appreciate current literature than among the general population.

So what is your opinion on the matter, if I may inquire?
 

ap123

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I think there are quite a few great and modern authors, each generation has at least a few that stand out as the "voice for that generation".

But when it comes to "the greats," I think many look to those who have stood the test of time.
 

Barbara R.

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It would be interesting to speculate on which modern authors will stand the test of time. Off the top of my head: Barbara Kingsolver; Donna Tartt; Barry Unsworth; Pat Barker...there are so many more, but I haven't had my first cup of coffee yet.
 

Ken

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But when it comes to "the greats," I think many look to those who have stood the test of time.

That's a good point. It is a good measure. A hundred years from now I guess a good representation of books and authors from these current times will be as much admired as those from the past.
 

ap123

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It would be interesting to speculate on which modern authors will stand the test of time. Off the top of my head: Barbara Kingsolver; Donna Tartt; Barry Unsworth; Pat Barker...there are so many more, but I haven't had my first cup of coffee yet.

Margaret Atwood, Joyce Carol Oates, Stephen King

(on my third and still can't gather a full list)
 

TheNighSwan

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The test of time is indeed important.

People don't realise how many authors that were really popular one or two centuries ago are completely unknown now, and likewise many authors which back then were only marginal and only had minimal recognition are now considered classic.

I personally have high doubts than much of what is currently produced and popular will still be read in 200 years, but then, that's just an unfalsifiable belief, and in that way the opposite belief is just as valid so, this kind of speculation is a bit pointless.

Though it should be noted that in the long run of literary history, not all periods are regarded as equal, and such things as "golden age" and "decline" do happen to a limited extense.
 

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Recently, I've been rereading a few from the early 1970's that I thought were wonderful when I was young. Now, I am astounded by the unthinking sexism of the authors, and by the fact I didn't see it much in those days. The characters are so dated in their attitudes.

Hurrah for modern stories that speak to our current times, and a deep nod to the old ones which let us see how we used to live and think.
 

WriterBN

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Recently, I've been rereading a few from the early 1970's that I thought were wonderful when I was young. Now, I am astounded by the unthinking sexism of the authors, and by the fact I didn't see it much in those days. The characters are so dated in their attitudes.

Hurrah for modern stories that speak to our current times, and a deep nod to the old ones which let us see how we used to live and think.

That's an ongoing issue, though. Most of today's "modern" stories will be dated 50 years from now. Context is important when reading fiction from another era.
 

Phaeal

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I'm willing to bet on Hilary Mantel standing the test of time. Meet me in a hundred years, and we'll see who has to pay up, in whatever form of beer that has survived global warming.
 

Chris P

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Jonathan Franzen seems to be standing out lately. I still think of John Updike as a modern author, although his most famous work is quite old by now. I'm sure people will talk about Umberto Eco for years and years to come. I still have high hopes for Dave Eggers, but his fiction seems to be in a slump and not holding a candle to his fictionalized biographies.
 

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For what its worth, as a matter of data - the only one of the authors mentioned so far that I've read regularly is Terry Pratchett.

I've heard of Margaret Atwood and can't remember if I tried her and gave up or haven't got as far as trying.

Stephen King tried one or two and gave up. Have seen some of the films and series based on his books (but it was a while ago and I can't remember which ones).

I'm in two minds whether Terry Pratchett would be widely read in a hundred years. I think he is fantastic - but would you need a massive quantity of foot notes to understand all the contemporary parody like the "clacks" - or would there be some equivalent human tech that would make the joke just as funny in the future. Can't tell yet. :)
Jane Austin's commentary on her society still has interest today - but I wonder whether there are some contemporary jokes we miss. (Anyone studied Austin at University who can fill us in on that?)

I remember reading a modern commentary/introduction on one of Dorothy Sayers Peter Whimsey books.The book was written in the 1930s and Peter Whimsey is mentioned as having flown across the Atlantic to arrive for a particular event. Fairly trivial these days. Back then it was a really big thing and may even have been done in an open cockpit plane. Any contemporary reader would have instantly got that and been very impressed.

I would add in to the pot - dramas based on Agatha Christie and possibly the books (I love watching the dramas, but don't get on with the writing style hence possibly the books :) ), Dorothy Sayers and Ngaio Marsh. They are still popular long after the authors have passed on.
There is also now a bit of a "retro" fad for detective novels set in the 1920s like the Daisy Dalrymple ones, that suggests a continuing interest in period detective novels.

Rosemary Sutcliff - who has written some beautiful descriptions and is a very evocative writer.

Lois McMaster Bujold - but depending on how the world changes, it might be the fantasies she is famous for rather than the Vorkosigan books - because those could seem dated if the technology changes. (Don't get me wrong, love the Vorkosigan books, just trying a bit of forward projection.)

Sherlock Holmes - how could I missed him? Bet that will continue on given how long it has been popular.
 
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Jamesaritchie

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Every age has great writers and poor writers. We remember those who wrote the classics, but forget that thousands of other writers lived at the same time these great writers did. We remember the few great writers, and history swallows the rest.

But of course there are great writers living today, or those recently deceased. There always are. Time alone will tell which ones will last, though there's a formula somewhere that seems very good at predicting such things. I have no doubt that King will last, that Ray Bradbury will last, that J.K. Rowling will last, simply because all three fit history's pattern of writers who last.

But I'm not at all sure it matters. I don't care in the least which writers will still be read a hundred years from now. My only concern is who pleases me today, and a pretty fair number of writers out there please me immensely.
 

Ken

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Recently, I've been rereading a few from the early 1970's that I thought were wonderful when I was young. Now, I am astounded by the unthinking sexism of the authors, and by the fact I didn't see it much in those days. The characters are so dated in their attitudes.

Hurrah for modern stories that speak to our current times, and a deep nod to the old ones which let us see how we used to live and think.

Ongoing issue, aside, (which is a valid point WriterBN raises) it is uber-cool that novels of our times are respectful of all people. No hate-filled rants. I recently read a novel from the 50's with some really offensive scenes in it. The novel itself was solid so I stuck to it. And it was, "of its times." Still --

The test of time is indeed important.

People don't realise how many authors that were really popular one or two centuries ago are completely unknown now, and likewise many authors which back then were only marginal and only had minimal recognition are now considered classic.

I was amazed when I went to the library to get a book pub'd around 1700 and it was utterly inaccessible. Though pub'd hundreds of years ago it was enormously popular of its day and remained so for at least 50 years as it spurred a lot of similarly written novels. Even so, it has become extinct. Since then I've had similar experiences when trying to get other popular sellers and acclaimed novels from the past without luck. So like you say, popular ones can all but disappear. Harry Potter, for instance, incredible as that may seem.

In general though I just wish we were all more appreciate of writers of our own times and really got behind them as much as we do of those of the past, even though they haven't as yet been time-tested. Nothing radical. We already give out awards: Nobels, Caldecotts, etc, which is cool. But maybe a bit more on the reading public's part just in terms of general attitude. (My 2 cents.)
 
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Jamesaritchie

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That's an ongoing issue, though. Most of today's "modern" stories will be dated 50 years from now. Context is important when reading fiction from another era.

You mean like all the classics we still love and read that are thoroughly dated? If being dated matter in the least, none of the classics would still be read and loved.

It's the novels that aren't dated that will probably disappear because they have nothing to anchor them in time and place.
 

Jamesaritchie

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The test of time is indeed important.

People don't realise how many authors that were really popular one or two centuries ago are completely unknown now, and likewise many authors which back then were only marginal and only had minimal recognition are now considered classic.

Very, very few, on a percentage basis. By and large, the bestsellers and popular writers of the past are the classic writers of today. The critics may have hated them, but readers almost always loved them to death.
 

Ken

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It's the novels that aren't dated that will probably disappear because they have nothing to anchor them in time and place.

True. Alongside that there's also something universal and timeless that pervades the best novels that speaks to all ages. The Man of La Mancha is just as much of a Man of Modern Times.
 

TheNighSwan

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Very, very few, on a percentage basis. By and large, the bestsellers and popular writers of the past are the classic writers of today. The critics may have hated them, but readers almost always loved them to death.

That seems a bit counterintuitive, to say the least.

Today the French writers of the 19th century who are still frequently printed and read, in France, are about maybe two dozens (not all of which were very popular back then).

I highly doubt this represents the entirerity of what was popular at the time.
 

Bolero

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I was just thinking that what we need on this thread is a scholar of literature, who has studied what books sold well at the time, what didn't, which ones we hear about now and so on.

Then I thought that folks in the future looking back to our period with the same question would have a lot more data with which to work. But maybe not. How comprehensive are today's book sales rankings? How ephemeral is electronic data? Will there be lots of eBook only books that disappear without trace? (Some may already have done so....)
 

sohalt

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Richardson's Pamela was hugely popular in its day. Think Twilight levels. It established a couple of tropes that still pervade the romance genre to this day. But the original, I suspect, is nowadays largely read by people who have to, because they're taking a class on 18th century literature. Still, it's certainly an example for a crowd-pleaser/mass market mainstream success that stood the test of time in the sense that it made it into the canon, at least and its influence can still be observed in contemporary output. (I for my part would have never read it for pleasure, but, having read it for class, I found it quite illuminating anyway.)

Melville in contrast was famously underappreciated during his life-time. Also made into the canon. Also probably more often read for class than for pleasure nowadays. Also highly illuminating anyway.

Maybe someone else could come up with an example of a popular work of its time that has fallen out of favour now - I'm sure they're numerous.
 

Barbara R.

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Recently, I've been rereading a few from the early 1970's that I thought were wonderful when I was young. Now, I am astounded by the unthinking sexism of the authors, and by the fact I didn't see it much in those days. The characters are so dated in their attitudes.

Hurrah for modern stories that speak to our current times, and a deep nod to the old ones which let us see how we used to live and think.

Racism and anti-Semitism, too. Older novels are a great gage of how far we've come. Imagine Nancy Drew attending the wedding of two gay friends!
 

Barbara R.

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Jonathan Franzen seems to be standing out lately. I still think of John Updike as a modern author, although his most famous work is quite old by now. I'm sure people will talk about Umberto Eco for years and years to come. I still have high hopes for Dave Eggers, but his fiction seems to be in a slump and not holding a candle to his fictionalized biographies.

Franzen! If it weren't for the rules of the forum, I'd have a lot to say about him. I'll confine myself to mentioning the 3-page long scene in his first book in which the MC conducts a deep conversation with his turd. I want my time back!

I'd have put Jane Smiley on the list of incipient classics if her recent books hadn't fallen so far from her earlier work. I'd definitely nominate George Saunders, even though he hasn't written all that much. And let's not forget Raymond Carver.
 

WriterBN

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You mean like all the classics we still love and read that are thoroughly dated? If being dated matter in the least, none of the classics would still be read and loved.

It's the novels that aren't dated that will probably disappear because they have nothing to anchor them in time and place.

My post was in response to jari_k's comments about books from the 1970s being dated. I don't have any problem with books being dated; Dickens is still one of my favorite authors.
 

Bolero

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Mm. I have a suspicion that there is a difference between "dated" and "period piece" but can't quite work out what that is. (Other than one is a criticism and the other isn't.)

It is possibly the way the people are written - are they people we can relate to now, or very alien.

Maybe there could be an element of what the author wrote about and how they wrote about it. If the story doesn't go anywhere near say sexism, racism or homophobia, then the author and the period's attitude to same doesn't show (whether the author was positive or negative from our viewpoint) and there is less/nothing in the book to offend a modern audience, or to highlight how different such things were back then.

In terms of films Star Wars and Buck Rogers are from the same period. One hasn't dated, the other has - that one always strikes me about how fresh the original Star Wars movies still are. (And film seems to date even faster than books.)
 
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