Important Writers
Recently, I loaned a coworker my copy of Stephen King's On Writing.
He made an interesting comment when saying he'd love to read it. It was something like, "I'm not a big Stephen King fan, but he is a very important modern writer."
That phrase "very important" intrigued me.
Certainly he's popular, King that is. He's sold about a bazillion-gazillion-trillion books, some of which I've thoroughly enjoyed and some I don't care for.
How does one define what an "Important Modern Writer" is?
Personally, I'm not sure.
Let's start by defining "modern" as, oh say within the last 40 or 45 years, since 1960.
Who are some of the most important writers and what makes them important?
I'm going to contemplate this and post more tomorrow, but in the meantime, I hope you'll take time to send me your thoughts as well.
posted by Clay @ 12:49 PM
1 Comments:
"Important" to me means someone who redefined genre.
Anne Rice helped Stephen King modernize horror beyond Shelley, Stoker, and Poe.
Neil Gaiman redefines urban spec fiction.
Ed McBain redefined police procedural mystery.
You can have "important" works in the same way... Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels, for one example of historical fiction.
Works that break barriers are important... authors who consistently do it are too.
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