A Book Question

[cactiphile]

Which Authors of the last 20 years do you think will still
be well read and known in 300 years time?

Eg Who will stand the test of time as Shakespere has?


I put forward, Asimov and A C Clarke.

C.

 

[claude_moveml]

I don't know about books, but seeing as Shakespeare wrote for the mass entertainment medium of his time I'd nominate some TV show - maybe one of the long running (50 years or more) British Soap operas - or a film director (Ridley Scott perhaps).

 

[sch00lteacher]

Excellent question. One that I can not just jump in and answer. I will have to give it some thought. I do think Asimov and Clarke won't make the cut. They are not popular now, why should they be then. I love them, I am sure you do as well, or you would not have suggested them. But to the masses they are brainy and boring.

Excellent...







Edit - How do you spell that cat's name, Clark or Clarke?

 

[espressolover]

I'm thinking Charles Bukowski...his work will always hold appeal

Sylvia Plath

You had asked for writers of the last 20 years- I really can't think of that many who would stand the test of 300 years.

The top two poets I listed and Anne Rice, maybe...erotica will always be with us, and I think her Beauty series will be here.
These are sentimental favorites.


One of my favorite actors - Sean Penn was on Inside the Actor's Studio last night, though a repeat, and he really summed up Buk's appeal. He said, "He is us...after a hard night of sex and drinking, on the toilet, broken - hearted, sick and on the way to work."
I think he will be with us always...at least I hope so.

 

[Astro]

Authors that are popular - JRR Tolkien. The more technology increases the more otherworldly his books will appear. Maybe they will be ignored, or maybe they will be used as they are today to escape to another world where Good and Evil can be seperated without too much grey.

 

[Cibo]

King and the dude that wrote LoTR, don't remember his name.

 

[Astro]

Cibo - tut tut. JRR Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings

 

[lovetoread]

Stephen King

No matter what you think about his work,there will always be a need to be scared.

 

[The Nitelight]

Sadly, none of them.

 

[photographer]

Test of time .....

I'm an avid reader - there's nothing else to doa t night here. I read everything I can my hands on, fiction, non-fiction, magazines and so on.

Racking my brain to answer the question but I come with no-one who, in my opinion, is good enough, popular enough or 'literary' enough to stand that sort of test.

Authors whao have already been mentioned are good, if not excellent, but I don't believe they will cut it.

 

[cactiphile]

As was orininally thinking of Asimov and Clarke
(will an E i checked because they
wrote of the future and people could be interested in
how absurd their ideas looked.

I think Tolkien will make it through as well.

Possibly the people to best survive are people
who chronical current events and attitudes.
Eg things that will be history then.
ALthough the only one I can think of in that
sort of class would be Saldem Rushtie
(I can't spell his name, and am not looking up another!)


c.

 

[Weird Harold]

As was orininally thinking of Asimov and Clarke

I think the third member of "The Big Three" of the golden age of Science Fiction -- Robert A. Heinlein will last longer than either Clarke or Asimov. Clarke and Asimov's stories are both more technically oriented and technology doesn't wear well in fiction. RAH wrote more about the people in his stories than about the technology. Stories like Stranger in a Strange Land and the Lazarus Long stories will still be around for a long time -- 300 yrs? Maybe not, but 150 or 200 easily.

Interestingly, on one episode of Babylon Five, some crisis interrupted some of the characters who were watching a Roadrunner Cartoon. Given the nature of the roadrunner cartoons, no dialogue, no real technology, etc, I think they will last longer than almost any other form of fiction we currently enjoy. Bugs, Tom & Jerry, and the other classic cartoons, or any of the more modern cartoons are too anachronistic even today to last 300 years.

Re: long running soap operas. It wouldn't surprise me to find new episodes of a "continuing story" like Days of Our Lives or one of the Brit soaps to still be in production 300 years from now.

 

[batter]

i dont know about that far in the future

but i bought the mrs a book by Silvia Brown that she is absolutely glad i bought. she learned a lot reading it and it helps people understand guardian angels and the afterlife. i believe it is called "the life of a physic"

i also loved reading "the diary of Jack the Ripper" very informative and lots of photos. it lets you form your own conclusion about one James Maybrick.

 

[cactiphile]

Re: long running soap operas. It wouldn't surprise me to find new episodes of a "continuing story" like Days of Our Lives or one of the Brit soaps to still be in production 300 years from now.

Could the Gods really be that cruel to the Human race

Re Heinlein
Although I like his books I think they seem very dated already
in their social attitudes. I don't think they'll wear well because of
this. If you compare them to Lord of the rings, Lord of the rings could have been written yestaday not nearly 50 years ago.
Although saying that Stranger in A strange land has a cult status and stands a better chance of surviving than therest of his books.

Re King
I've not read enough of his to make an accessment.

Batter, I don't really know anything about those two.
Which sort of means if i don't know about them now,
whose going to know about them in several hundred years time.


Re Cartoons,
Considering some of the early cartoons are still shown
a lot more than early films/ series, WH is probably right in
saying that these will still be floating about, which
is a much nicer thought that soap operas.

C.

 

[GuyJD]

Mick Foley and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

They'll probably write a book called, "How I Got Fucked By The WWF".

 

[RisiaSkye]

Toni Morrison--Nobel Prizes don't grow on trees, ya know.
Stephen King--he's Poe & Stoker, only popular and prolific
Anne Rice--between erotica and the occult, she's here to stay
Kurt Vonnegut--still writing, still relevant, he's Swift or Paine with more heart

 

[Marxist]

This thread is sad.

 

[Weird Harold]

Could the Gods really be that cruel to the Human race

If not continuations of current soaps, then something comparable will take their place. Humans seem to have a need to snoop on the doings of others. At least Soaps let them snoop on juicy stuff that is fictional.

Re Heinlein
Although I like his books I think they seem very dated already
in their social attitudes. I don't think they'll wear well because of
this. If you compare them to Lord of the rings, Lord of the rings could have been written yestaday not nearly 50 years ago.
Although saying that Stranger in A strange land has a cult status and stands a better chance of surviving than therest of his books.

I think Heinlein's social attitudes will move into and out of fashion over the centuries, causing his works to wax and wane in popularity. Valentine Micheal Smith and Lazarus Long are characters that touch some need in a lot of people -- both have "cult" followings -- and those are the characters (and books) that will last.

Re Cartoons,
Considering some of the early cartoons are still shown
a lot more than early films/ series, WH is probably right in
saying that these will still be floating about, which
is a much nicer thought that soap operas.

Note, I specifically noted that the Roadrunner cartoons are the ones that will last for 300 years. Most of the others will die out although (hopefully) not as quickly as sitcoms.

 

[Debbie]

Stephen King
Anne Rice
Michael Crichton
Robin Cook
Patricia Cornwall
Robert A. Heinlein
JRR Tolkien
and maybe Terry Pratchett

IMHO only

 

[Marxist]

None of the crap anyone has listed, save Morrison and Vonnegut and Tolkien (although his work is already 50+ years old), will survive 100 years, let alone 300 or 400.

Quick, name the top selling, most popular authors from 100 years ago... How about the '20s? '30s? 40s?

With few exceptions, none of those popular novels survived to be taught in schools for good reason: They were dependent on the times and situation that they were written in. The same could be said of King, Clarke, Asimov, and many other popular writers of recent memory.


So what popular writers of the last 20 years will last? Who knows? But here's my partial guess:

John Irving (he's imitating Dickens anyway)
Philip K. Dick (alienation and paranoia never go out of style)
E. L. Doctorow
John Fowles
Johnathan Franzen (he's got mad skill)
Thomas Pynchon (I hate every word)
Salman Rushdie

 

[Hamletmaschine]

None of the crap anyone has listed, save Morrison and Vonnegut and Tolkien (although his work is already 50+ years old), will survive 100 years, let alone 300 or 400.

[[[CUT]]]

So what popular writers of the last 20 years will last? Who knows? But here's my partial guess:

John Irving (he's imitating Dickens anyway)
Philip K. Dick (alienation and paranoia never go out of style)
E. L. Doctorow
John Fowles
Johnathan Franzen (he's got mad skill)
Thomas Pynchon (I hate every word)
Salman Rushdie

I agree, Marxist.

And let's not forget Gunther Grass or Michael Ondaatje....

I also think Raymond Carver's short stories will be read for some time...like Cheever, he was a master of the form.

~H~

 

[espressolover]

Marxist,
I have to agree with you on Vonnegut
and Salman Rushdie.

Maybe Buk is a sentimental favorite, but I love his work. I would love to think that he will survive.

 

[Guest]

Hey people we talk about 300 years from here that is a very long time. I think books, like Lord of the rings, will be remembered more than authors.

So Harry Potter will pass the century.

I could add too the Hyperion serie from Dan Simmons.

The Robot serie from Asimov.

1984 George Orwell.

Earth's Children serie Jean A Auel.

And some books from King like his Gunslinger serie , The Stand and It.

Déjà

 

[espressolover]

Yes,
We love to be scared, and Stephen King is a modern master...I think he will be around for a long while.

I love The Stand, that I think is the best he's ever done.

 

[Dillinger]

Of all the names I've seen here the two I think have the most chance are

Robert A. Heinlein
JRR Tolkien

There works are already considered classics in many ways - and I think they will hold up.

I think perhaps Vonnegut might as well...