Stepehn King certainly. Any others?
2006-09-06 03:13:38 · 27 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
Hard to tell, but for my money it would be Arthur C. Clarke or another physicist sci-fi author.
2006-09-06 08:59:30 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Let's look at this another way...which contemporary author is widely read from 100 years ago?
None of them.
There are some well known authors that are read, Dickens, Twain, etc--but widely read I don't think so. Most often, people get introduced to these authors during school. If they happen to like an author they read more of their books (but this is the minority).
So, a hundred years from now I doubt many of the popular authors will be widely read because they are unlikely to be taught in school. Likely the authors that will be read then will have been less prolific, less commercial, and more critically acclaimed.
That does not mean that King, Rowling, Koontz, Grisham, or any of the others are bad--but I doubt they will have staying power.
When you read authors like Sinclair Lewis or F. Scott Fitzgerald for example you can see why they are still read today (albeit not widely). They still feel contemporary, and they are very well written.
The authors from this period read 100 years from now will not be the obvious ones on the best seller lists.
2006-09-06 10:52:56 · answer #2 · answered by Todd 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I also agree with Todd. Being 'widely read' does not mean the book is a critical success, or even readable. With culture vultures like Oprah guiding the masses, books are bought simply so people can say, "I am reading the new Oprah book!"
As for childrens' literature, lets consider the possible staying power of someone like J.K. Rowling Can you name a childrens' author from 100 years ago? No, because books were not written for that market in the early 1900's. So it is possible that HP books will still be read widely by children, much as C.S. Lewis and Ursula Le Guin are read now, many years after their books were first published.
2006-09-06 19:07:30 · answer #3 · answered by pwernie 3 · 3⤊ 1⤋
I don't think many of the popular contemporary authors will be still widely read 100 years from now. Most of the popular authors mentioned are really just mind candy; ie., simple, easy reads that really don't carry much symbolic resonance or means for later interpretation. I think that the majority of authors in our current culture who are going to be popular a hundred years from now are people the mainstream reading class has heard very little about.
2006-09-06 12:26:55 · answer #4 · answered by jennybeanses 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
great question, sets you thinking...
perhaps some of the older guys who wrote close to a century back.. thr r definitely some people who read shakespeare n stuff and there's no reason i see why they wont after a 100 years more, and other classics like twain n charles dickens n all,
enid blyton n jk rowling wont survive tht long, though they're both simply great... n most of the recent stuff we've had out on stands are just one-hit wonder so as to say.... they work awhile but thats about it....
2006-09-06 11:08:32 · answer #5 · answered by shweta_indiagurl 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
J.K. Rowling.
The Harry Potter books already have the feel of classics because they're not terribly rooted in this time period. They create their own world with its own rules.
Stories that make a lot of references to fashion and movie stars and pop songs probably won't last as long because public memory of those kinds of things fades fast. I'm guessing in 20 to 30 years, chick lit will seem extremely dated - and 100 years from now people will need footnotes to read them.
2006-09-06 23:29:21 · answer #6 · answered by poohba 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Toni Morrison, Mark Leyner, Daska Slater, Ed McBain
2006-09-06 13:03:10 · answer #7 · answered by Bob 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Carl Sagan, Noam Chomsky
2006-09-06 10:26:08 · answer #8 · answered by Politics As Usual, Card Game 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I agree, Stephen King. No one else seems to have that staying power for me. I'm thinking that JK Rowling is on the list, but ONLY because of Harry Potter. Nothing else she will ever write will compare to that series. They're the kind of stories that will be handed down for generations. I can't think of any other author that really has that oomph....
2006-09-06 10:21:50 · answer #9 · answered by Jessie P 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Kazuo Ishiguro
Philip Roth
John Updike
Ian McEwan
Richard Powers
Yoko Ogawa
and, yes, J.K. Rowling + Stephen King....
....Dan Brown will be long forgotten....
2006-09-06 10:27:36 · answer #10 · answered by msmiligan 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Mitch Albom
Dan Brown
JK Rowling
Nicholas Sparks
2006-09-06 11:32:20 · answer #11 · answered by bootandpooh 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋