overrated authors

[jeffpv]

Some of the following are excellent writers, but the list is for overrated writers, and it's my view that they fall into the category:
Ayn Rand (if she's considered 'classic')
Charles Dickens
Jane Austen
O Henry
Thomas Friedman (I know he's not classic, but I simply can't make an overrated list without him on it)
Victor Hugo
Thomas Hardy
Ezra Pound

[DivronOrl]

Originally Posted by jeffpv

Some of the following are excellent writers, but the list is for overrated writers, and it's my view that they fall into the category:
Ayn Rand (if she's considered 'classic')
Charles Dickens
Jane Austen
O Henry
Thomas Friedman (I know he's not classic, but I simply can't make an overrated list without him on it)
Victor Hugo
Thomas Hardy
Ezra Pound

I agree on the following:
Charles Dickens
Jane Austen
O Henry
Thomas Friedman (I know he's not classic, but I simply can't make an overrated list without him on it)
Thomas Hardy

Ayn Rand, Ezra Pound, and Victor Hugo for me are great storytellers and poets!

[Escort Rider]

In France, Victor Hugo is considered a greater poet than a novelist. His poetry, like anyone else's, is hard to evaluate in translation. I have studied (not just read) some of his poetry in French, and I consider him a poet of the first order.

[DivronOrl]

Originally Posted by Escort Rider

In France, Victor Hugo is considered a greater poet than a novelist. His poetry, like anyone else's, is hard to evaluate in translation. I have studied (not just read) some of his poetry in French, and I consider him a poet of the first order.

Les Miserables is <3

[NewJerseyMemories]

Originally Posted by CraigCreek

I disliked "The Return of the Native" and "Pride and Prejudice" very much when we read and studied them (and picked them to pieces) in my high school senior English class, and thought I disliked Hardy and Austen as well. Thankfully, I reread both books when I was in my early twenties - wow! What a difference! I promptly sought out all the Hardy and Austen novels I could find and sped through them, enjoying every minute.

The difference was possibly in my maturity - and most definitely was in the manner in which both books were taught, by a teacher who failed to connect with me and who was clueless about just how much I read and wrote independently - or what I read. She was a good teacher for some - just not for me, and her methods were not flexible at all.

But even she was unable to spoil Elizabethan poetry for me, thank goodness.

There is such a big difference in reading a book for class and reading a book for pleasure. I was an English major/Journalism minor in college, and had a very heavy reading and writing load, and sometimes I could not enjoy the books (I learned not to take "novel" classes because they were so time-consuming and concentrated on poetry and drama after that.

Anyway, I have now read some of those books I loathed in college and can really enjoy some of them now.

I also vastly prefer Hemingway's short stories to his novels.

I still don't really like Shakespeare.

I took a full semester Chaucer class in college and hated him by the end of the semester. Just try writing a mid-term and final in Middle English!

[2x3x29x41]

Originally Posted by 2nd trick op

Hemingway -- too many exotic locations, none of the local character of Steinbeck and O'Hara.

Originally Posted by DivronOrl

i beg to disagree. I appreciate Hemingway much. He deserves such praises from critics

I've never cared for Hemingway. His prose does nothing for me.

That said, I don't think he's overrated, because the idea that no one else should rate him more highly than I rate him would be rather self-absorbed of me. Conversely, I do not think that he deserves praise, any more than I think that the authors I hold in high esteem - Cormac McCarthy and John Irving come to mind - deserve praise. Just because I delight in their works does not mean someone else should.