Who is the greatest American author?

Me

gaddis

>>8364029
Steinbeck is definitely a contender.

I would say mark twain would be the first major author to create a style that would be considered distinctly American around the world.

other authors who could understandably be named...Melville, flan O'Connor, hemingway, Faulkner, ray carver, Eudora welty. I'm not just talking quality of their work, but also impact of "American literature."

>>8364073
>I'm not just talking quality of their work, but also impact of "American literature."
>no Poe
>no Sherwood Anderson
>no O. Henry
>no Fitzgerald
>no Thoreau
>no Emerson

And if we're including poets:
>no Whitman
>no Dickinson
>no Frost

Not to say I think any of these deserve the title of America's greatest, but if you're going to include the likes of O'connor, Carver, and Welty in the discussion, all of those I listed certainly should be included, too.

>>8364112
>all of those I listed certainly should be included, too.

definitely. I just named a few off the top of my head.

and add carl sandburg to the list of poets.

>>8364029
Novelist? Melville or Faulkner.

Poet? Whitman. (Eliot is a close contender.)

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40KB, 366x380px

>>8364917
>(Eliot is a close contender.)

Thomas Pynchon and David Foster Wallace

>>8364029
melville, twain, wallace

>>8364029
DFW

Tao Lin

Shakespeare

>>8364980

The large majority of them are Shakespeare I would assume

john gsteinbeck

vonnegut

>>8365157
hello there reddit