Which 20th century writers (of fiction) will be regarded as classic?
- Thread starter Kyriakos
- Start date
IMHO The whole point is 'what will be remembered', not what is the greatest style or good English grammar (or any language), at least that's my opinion.
Will King be remembered over Poe, have read several King books and no Poe works, so?
King has some good work, but he tends to also produce unbelievably bad work... 
Although i only read something like 12 short stories by him. Sometimes good is succeeded by abysmal in the same story, eg The Mangler, which by the end is really pitifully poor.
Although i only read something like 12 short stories by him. Sometimes good is succeeded by abysmal in the same story, eg The Mangler, which by the end is really pitifully poor.
The Collected Civ3 Limericks of JR are destined to be a 21st century classic.
onejayhawk
Afflicted with reason
Asimov and Bradbury, definitely. The others... I haven't read enough of their work to tell.
But definitely Frank Herbert. Dune has already stood the test of time, at 50 years and counting, and people will still be discussing it for decades to come.
A newer book that I think deserves more recognition than it's received is C.J. Cherryh's Cyteen. It's a masterpiece of politics, economics, psychology, sociology, and the author accomplishes one thing far better than Frank Herbert did in Dune Messiah: Clone a person's body and recreate the personality that inhabited that body - in essence, recreate the original person.
Frank Herbert recreated Duncan Idaho and Miles Teg. C.J. Cherryh recreated Ariane Emory and her companions, Florian and Catlin. I honestly think Cherryh's technique and exploration of the psychological aspects of being a successor is superior... but of course it required computers and other advanced tech which were forbidden in Frank Herbert's universe.
onejayhawk
Afflicted with reason
Carol Cherry is just interesting period. I met her at a con and had a chance to talk. She was a HS Latin teacher in her day life. Ted Sturgeon was the headliner, which should give you an idea of the date.
On the general subject of speculative fiction, how much will be considered classic and how much will be considered footnote material, eg first instance of a word, etc?
J
On the general subject of speculative fiction, how much will be considered classic and how much will be considered footnote material, eg first instance of a word, etc?
J
Evie
Pronounced like Eevee
Gotta join in voting for Prof Tolkien. Not for amazing literary qualities, but because his is the pen that launched a thousands books. Talk about sea changes in litterature in the twentieth century, writers who redefined our relation with fiction, and his name is right up there atop the list.
Orwell is also a strong candidate.
Orwell is also a strong candidate.
gay_Aleks
from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!
if only certain people who never read Orwell's works aren't polluting and literally destroying the point of it
Read them all, if you need recommendations write to me.
JohnRM
Don't make me destroy you
Orwell, Steinbeck, and Hemingway immediately come to mind.
dragonprobably
The Poster Formerly Known as MartinLuther
I'm going with H. P. Lovecraft. His contributions to Science Fiction and Horror are astonishing, influencing many from Stephen King to Neil Gaiman, even having a huge amount of influence outside of literature.
gay_Aleks
from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!
Isn't Jules Verne, alongside H.G Welles already considered one of the "classics", being the fathers of Sci-fi?
_random_
Jewel Runner
My go-to when people ask my favorite book. A stunning expression of religious faith in the midst of the anxieties of the Cold War.
With that being said, I think y'all generally overestimate the enduring qualities of science fiction. Asimov will be remembered for his influence on the genre, for sure, but I'm not sure anything he wrote will ever qualify as a classic outside of it.
Giving contributions, William Golding is a pretty safe choice. And Cormac McCarthy seems to be aggressively targeting unappreciated high schoolers of future generations.
Verne isn't really 20th century, though. Google tells me he died in 1905 
Re HP Lovecraft, as noted in the OP i like him too, but i am not sure if he will be deemed as classic literature (and he has some very crude issues as well, writing-wise; particularly some older stories of course...)
Re HP Lovecraft, as noted in the OP i like him too, but i am not sure if he will be deemed as classic literature (and he has some very crude issues as well, writing-wise; particularly some older stories of course...)
I started going to conventions in the early '80s, and she's among the first science fiction authors I ever met. I still have the copy of Downbelow Station she signed.
And years later she came back for another convention... by this time I'd worked my way through the entire Merovingen Nights series, and finally had the chance to ask if there would ever be an eighth book. Sadly, the answer was no - for various reasons she and the other series authors couldn't make their collaboration work any longer. Some of the storylines will forever remain unfinished. 
While I realize she can write what she wants, there really needs to be one more volume to the Cyteen series. Regenesis tied up the major loose end of Cyteen (who killed the original Ariane Emory), but then she started up the storyline about Eversnow... and I want more of that, along with seeing how the next generation of psychogenesis projects works (or not).
There's some excellent Cyteen fanfiction on the Archive Of Our Own website that fills in a few blanks and explores a few interesting story tangents that were briefly mentioned in Cyteen and then dropped.
I have a couple of Philip K. Dick books, and also a couple of van Vogt books. I haven't read them in a very long time, though.
Now that's one Cherryh series I haven't read any of. Right now I'm re-reading Finity's End.I own all 16 of her Foreigner books.
Even someone who's only marginally familiar with Asimov would likely recall that he developed the Three Laws of Robotics, and one of his most famous short stories is "The Last Question."
He wrote in other genres too, though, but sometimes used a pseudonym (any book by Paul French is really by Isaac Asimov).
onejayhawk
Afflicted with reason
I asked her which came first, the Norway or Cat. Mallory. She answered the corporations.
J
J
