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7/13/2025, 10:41:01 PM
>>24546514
>>24547317
You know, honestly? I kind of agree with this. The American novelists from the latter half of the 20th Century, are they really so great? The popular ones, anyway.
Does John Updike really have anything grand and powerful to say? Does Gore Vidal? Does Norman Mailer? Does Philip Roth? Does Don DeLillo?
A lot of the novelists that Brooks is celebrating here could probably be called minor writers from the perspective of the whole history of literature. As far as MAJOR writers go, what has America produced in the postwar era? McCarthy is the only one that immediately comes to mind. McCarthy IS probably a Great Writer, but I think it's not a coincidence that he never gets included with the "set" of "popular" writers guys like Brooks talk about from the 60s/70s/80s/90s. "Popular" writers in the United States have not always been GREAT writers. Indeed, it seems they rarely are.
Hell, I might also say Gene Wolfe counts as a GREAT writer from the postwar era, but he's an outsider to the popular set, too.
So, it's always good when more people read, but how much of the popular novelists of the last 80 years will be read a thousand years from now? I'm not sure there will be any of them.
>>24547317
You know, honestly? I kind of agree with this. The American novelists from the latter half of the 20th Century, are they really so great? The popular ones, anyway.
Does John Updike really have anything grand and powerful to say? Does Gore Vidal? Does Norman Mailer? Does Philip Roth? Does Don DeLillo?
A lot of the novelists that Brooks is celebrating here could probably be called minor writers from the perspective of the whole history of literature. As far as MAJOR writers go, what has America produced in the postwar era? McCarthy is the only one that immediately comes to mind. McCarthy IS probably a Great Writer, but I think it's not a coincidence that he never gets included with the "set" of "popular" writers guys like Brooks talk about from the 60s/70s/80s/90s. "Popular" writers in the United States have not always been GREAT writers. Indeed, it seems they rarely are.
Hell, I might also say Gene Wolfe counts as a GREAT writer from the postwar era, but he's an outsider to the popular set, too.
So, it's always good when more people read, but how much of the popular novelists of the last 80 years will be read a thousand years from now? I'm not sure there will be any of them.
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