Who is the greatest living American author?

Debate serious and interesting topics, rant about politics or pop culture, or otherwise converse in essay form about your opinions. The rules of conduct here are a little stricter.
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Postby T3chno » 2009.06.06 (20:58)

rennaT wrote:
Techno wrote:Douglas Adams - the man lives forever <3.
Douglas Adams, while he was alive, was British.
Your point? Is it not true the original Americans came from England?
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Postby otters~1 » 2009.06.06 (21:03)

Techno wrote:
rennaT wrote:
Techno wrote:Douglas Adams - the man lives forever <3.
Douglas Adams, while he was alive, was British.
Your point? Is it not true the original Americans came from England?
Not entirely, by any means, to address your somewhat ignorant point. And while Adams lived partially in the US for most of his life, he is now sadly dead, and he died British.
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Postby handofgod » 2009.06.07 (04:49)

KinGAleX wrote:Larry McMurtry!

Lonesome Doooooove.
Anything For Billy was my favorite for a very long time.

Cormac McCarthy
Ernest Hemingway
Ray Bradbury
Im suprised nobody put Harper Lee
EDIT: AND hunter S. Thompson???
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Postby T3chno » 2009.06.07 (06:07)

flagmyidol wrote: Not entirely, by any means, to address your somewhat ignorant point. And while Adams lived partially in the US for most of his life, he is now sadly dead, and he died British.
Stop taking everything so seriously. Jeez.
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Postby SlappyMcGee » 2009.06.07 (15:41)

I would have said HST, but he sadly shot himself a few years back. He was sixty-seven years old, or, as he described it, 17 years too old. Rest in peace!
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Postby Studebacher Hoch » 2009.06.08 (16:12)

handofgod wrote: Ernest Hemingway
Ray Bradbury
Im suprised nobody put Harper Lee
Ernest Hemingway has been dead for like 50 years. Harper Lee has written one novel, and it was absolutely awful. Ray Bradbury wrote one good novel, which was intended to be an inditement against television that was misinterpretated by everyone as a statement on free thought.

To keep discussion going, Michael Chabon. Kavalier & Clay is an amazing book, though the Yiddish Policeman's Union was a bit heavy on the Jewstigma.

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Postby otters~1 » 2009.06.08 (16:31)

Studebacher Hoch wrote:
handofgod wrote: Ernest Hemingway
Ray Bradbury
Im suprised nobody put Harper Lee
Ernest Hemingway has been dead for like 50 years. Harper Lee has written one novel, and it was absolutely awful. Ray Bradbury wrote one good novel, which was intended to be an inditement against television that was misinterpretated by everyone as a statement on free thought.

To keep discussion going, Michael Chabon. Kavalier & Clay is an amazing book, though the Yiddish Policeman's Union was a bit heavy on the Jewstigma.
QFE to everything you said.

EDIT: Techno, as I read your post, I sincerely hoped it was a joke. I didn't take it as such, but I'm glad for your sake that it was.
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Postby SlappyMcGee » 2009.06.08 (23:35)

Does Charlie Kaufman count? He fucking should.

Also, Chuck Klosterman.
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Postby T3chno » 2009.06.08 (23:54)

SlappyMcGee wrote:Also, Chuck Klosterman.
Oh, very much so. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs ftw.
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Postby Sniperwhere » 2009.06.09 (22:01)

SlappyMcGee wrote:
Sniperwhere wrote:I'm surprised that Ray Bradbury has not yet been mentioned.

If the word "greatest" was "most", and if the word "living" was "overrated", and if the word "American" was "Illinois sucks", then yeah, Bradbury ftw.
The Most Overrated Illinois Sucks author? I didn't know "Illinois Sucks" was a country. :P

Anyways, I add Michael Crichton to the list. Andromeda Strain was incredible.

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Postby unoriginal name » 2009.06.10 (14:22)

Sniperwhere wrote:Anyways, I add Michael Crichton to the list. Andromeda Strain was incredible.
Michael Crichton died last year.

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Postby Tanner » 2009.06.10 (16:09)

This thread is surely becoming a giant tearfest for people who are just not realizing that their favourite authors are dead.
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Postby a happy song » 2009.06.12 (05:50)

Cormac McCarthy is good. Just read The Road, my first experience with him (aside from the No Country adaptation) and it was quite brilliant. Not sure about greatest, but I'll certainly be reading more.
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Postby SlappyMcGee » 2009.06.12 (21:53)

DemonzLunchBreak wrote:The Road was decent. I kinda preferred All the Pretty Horses. Those are the only two books I've read by McCarthy, though.

You folk ought'a check out some Blood Meridian. Way better than anything else ever.
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Postby Sondrigal » 2009.06.13 (01:51)

I am...

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Postby otters~1 » 2009.06.13 (20:31)

rennaT wrote:This thread is surely becoming a giant tearfest for people who are just not realizing that their favourite authors are dead.
Oh god, Asimov!
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Postby SlappyMcGee » 2009.06.13 (21:53)

flagmyidol wrote:
rennaT wrote:This thread is surely becoming a giant tearfest for people who are just not realizing that their favourite authors are dead.
Oh god, Asimov!

Guys, I just heard over the CB. Miguel de Cervantes has been found in Tokyo dead. I guess he hanged him self. It might not be suicide, though. I guess he was in the middle of some autoerotic asphyxiation. Yeah, his little Don Quixote was all tied up too. It's a real shame.
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Postby otters~1 » 2009.06.14 (16:23)

Thank God for Slappy.
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Postby Sniperwhere » 2009.06.15 (04:58)

xVxSupremeMastarxVx wrote:Michael Crichton died last year.
See, this is why I hate being the most uninformed person in America.

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Postby bobaganuesh_2 » 2009.06.16 (03:41)

Thomas Hardy - oh wait, he's British and dead
Sholom Aleichem - Yiddish and dead
Edmund Rostand - French, a playwright, and dead
Frank Herbert - dead

hmm...how about WILLIAM GIBSON

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Postby Studebacher Hoch » 2009.06.16 (10:30)

bobaga_fett wrote:Thomas Hardy - oh wait, he's British and dead
Sholom Aleichem - Yiddish and dead
Edmund Rostand - French, a playwright, and dead
Frank Herbert - dead

hmm...how about WILLIAM GIBSON
William Gibson lives in Vancouver.

... don't make me get into this.

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Postby SlappyMcGee » 2009.06.16 (14:05)

Studebacher Hoch wrote:
bobaga_fett wrote:Thomas Hardy - oh wait, he's British and dead
Sholom Aleichem - Yiddish and dead
Edmund Rostand - French, a playwright, and dead
Frank Herbert - dead

hmm...how about WILLIAM GIBSON
William Gibson lives in Vancouver.

... don't make me get into this.
But his writing is so Chicago!
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Postby Tanner » 2009.06.16 (21:27)

Umm, Gibson's writing is Detroit, if anything.
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Postby SlappyMcGee » 2009.06.16 (21:33)

err. Tanner, William Gibson is a white guy. Noob.
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Postby Tanner » 2009.06.17 (02:40)

If my favourite movie of the past decade had been set in America instead of the UK, it would have been filmed in Detroit.
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