[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Writers and other artists of 20 century which in your opinion will be remembered

[Shaun Hately]

On 13/02/2012 2:20 PM, dumbledore11214 wrote:
>
>
> Alla:
>
> Thats a good point, on the other hand, the explosion of mass
> communication happened more in the second half of 20 century, right? I
> am having trouble coming up with many names of the first half too, and
> if there are so many of them, shouldnt we be able to name at least some,
> shouldnt we be able to say this one and this one and this one AND this
> one are potential figures to live in ages, instead of saying huh, and
> start counting on fingers of my two hands, barely.

With books it started in the 1850s or so as literacy became commonplace 
among all sections of society and cheap prebound books started to be 
produced en masse (the 'penny dreadfuls' of the Victorian era) and mass 
circulation magazines began to become common as well.


> Okay, I cannot consider myself very well educated in the music area, so
> that may definitely stop me from naming genuis composers of 20 century,
> but I can say without hesitation that I am extremely well read in
> Russian literature, but also quite well read in general. And I cannot
> name that many writers either. Thomas Mann? Maybe. Irvin Shaw? I
> suppose. Tolkien is actually the only one I was able to name with no
> hesitation.

Another factor is a lot of the time, we only decide somebody was a great 
well after they've stopped writing. Jane Austen, for example, died in 
1817 and while her books were somewhat successful, it wasn't until the 
1870s that she suddenly became acclaimed as something truly special when 
her nephew wrote a biography of her, and she really exploded in 1883 
when the first cheap - mass produced and marketed - editions of her 
books were released.

But in terms of 20th Century English language authors who I think will 
endure - George Orwell. Graham Greene. C.S. Forester. Terry Pratchett. 
Rudyard Kipling. Arthur C. Clarke. John Buchan. James Joyce. C.S. Lewis. 
Aldous Huxley. P.G. Wodehouse. Noel Coward. JRR Tolkien.