Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 1:28 am Posts: 3906 Location: the yay
I know I am going to get some grief for this, but I believe that Stephen king is the greatest american writer.
Yes, he has written some total shit, but every good auther has some duds. But the bad ones Aren't what I am focusing on.
I am talking about how in under 35 years, Stephen King has written more than 50 full novels, including hundreds of short stories. MOre than 20 of his books have been turned into movies, some good movies some not.
Some people think his books are just crap, try to scare you books, while each and everyone of his stories has its own, odd perspective of thinking. HE has given birth to some of the greatest horror stories ever. (the shining, carrie, pet symmetary, IT)
Not only are his books great reads, but some of them ahve made amazing films. Not just the shining, but stand by me, the green mile, SHAWSHank redemption, The stand, dreamcatcher, salems lot, the running man.
plus many of you know of his series, the dark tower. Those are great, epic novels.
Other great american writers
Jack kereouac
George STeinbeck
John Grisham
Ken Kesey
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Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 9:10 am Posts: 17256 Location: Chichen to the Thing
King does have some good stories/novels: Dark Tower series, the Stand, the Shining, a few others. Honestly, he can be a good storyteller but I think his writing style lackluster and rudimentary. Give me Joseph Heller or Thomas Pynchon any day. Plus, I don't think you can judge a writer's merit by how many or what quality films are adapted from the novels.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 1:28 am Posts: 3906 Location: the yay
bondcfh007 wrote:
King does have some good stories/novels: Dark Tower series, the Stand, the Shining, a few others. Honestly, he can be a good storyteller but I think his writing style lackluster and rudimentary. Give me Joseph Heller or Thomas Pynchon any day. Plus, I don't think you can judge a writer's merit by how many or what quality films are adapted from the novels.
good movie's come from good stories. Plus just because his writing can be perverse, doesn't mean that he doesn't have anything smart behind his story.
_________________ number is the ruler of forms and ideas and the cause of gods and demons- pythagoras
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 4:01 am Posts: 19477 Location: Brooklyn NY
John Steinbeck
Kurt Vonnegut
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Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:59 am Posts: 18643 Location: Raleigh, NC Gender: Male
I'm sorry, but Steven King is basically John Grisham. I can't believe your criteria is # of books and how many have been made into good movies. Oy. King writes entertaining fluff.
Toni Morrison wrote 1 book that trumps everything King has ever done.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:58 am Posts: 2105 Location: Austin
glorified_version wrote:
John Steinbeck Kurt Vonnegut
Aye. King is a great storyteller, which is a lot different then being a great writer. His stories are very entertaining, but lack substance, and he reuses very stereotypical characters over and over again in very extreme situations. I like him a lot, but he doesn't compare to the best American writers. Steinbeck and Vonnegut are among the best.
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2004 1:36 am Posts: 5458 Location: Left field
......Stephen King?
Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Melville Vonnegut, Steinbeck, Salinger, who amongst them wrote to name a few, Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, Moby Dick, The Grapes of Wrath and then you have Hemingway, who being influenced by the short story styles of Turgenev and Checkov changed the American prose style and yet you name Stephen king who rountinely writes books with cookie cutter characters and cliché plot lines. King is the writing equivalent of Bon Jovi, it’s easy listening, you know what your getting and the same shit that was the last record will be on the forthcoming one but it will sell just as the last one did.
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 12:10 am Posts: 10993 Gender: Male
jwfocker wrote:
......Stephen King?
Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Melville Vonnegut, Steinbeck, Salinger, who amongst them wrote to name a few, Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, Moby Dick, The Grapes of Wrath and then you have Hemingway, who being influenced by the short story styles of Turgenev and Checkov changed the American prose style and yet you name Stephen king who rountinely writes books with cookie cutter characters and cliché plot lines. King is the writing equivalent of Bon Jovi, it’s easy listening, you know what your getting and the same shit that was the last record will be on the forthcoming one but it will sell just as the last one did.
Haha. That's a very good comparison. Everything you said was spot-on.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 11:56 am Posts: 1157 Location: England
Oh, I wouldn't say everything was spot on. Hemingway, although he is undoubtedly a great writer, is often derivative and, in his own way, trite, just like King is in his. Of the few mentioned I've only read all of Fitzgerald and Salinger's catalogues. Both, it must be said, are excellent throughout despite the odd discrepancy here and there.
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