Which American writer is the most representative of American literature ?

Answer 1

I'd nominate Mark Twain, America's first and foremost "American" writer.

Answer 2

Dear Bog, if people think Jackie Collins is the most representative of American literature, I'd be very sad to see how that makes America look to foreigners.

I'd nominate Twain... and I'm a female. And so?

Really, though, when I read I don't take the author's nationality into consideration--a good book is a good book, whether it was written by an American, Asian, or Martian. I think great books go beyond countries and races and can be representative of many people all over the world; at that point, I no longer think of it as German lit., or American lit., or whathaveyou.

Answer 3

There could never possibly be and never will be a single "representative" American author; the experiences of the diverse peoples who call themselves Americans are too disparate and wildly unlike one another's for anyone to choose a representative which encompasses all of them. The question you ask is the same one which troubles those who study "the canon," or the books which make up the collection of "classics" that all Americans are supposed to know. The problem with the canon is that it has been dominated by white males - women, Hispanics, blacks, and Asians have all been excluded from the canon until very recently; or their work has been and still is thought less of in comparison to the work of white males (note that white males were suggested by nearly all previous answerers): Melville, Twain, Hemingway (a _notorious_ womanizer), Emerson, Thoreau.

As a woman writer, I would _never_ claim a man as the quintessential American author. A male author could not possibly render the experiences of being a woman in America (or a woman in any country, for that matter).

Answer 4

Ralph Waldo Emmerson would probaly be a wonderful representative. He was a true trancendentalist and it can be said that he really kick started that movement. While there are many writers that represent the romantic era, this was primarily a british movement. Trancendelalism is a movement that first happened in America and impacted all of contemporary literature.

The man spent years going around telling men to simplify their lives, but many took him too seriously (keep in mind the man spent two years by a creek living off the land) including his most idealic follower Thoreu (spelling?). Thoreu spent most of his life furthering the teachings of emmerson and living it down to the key. When he realized that Emmerson himself still enjoyed a cup of tea every morning, he was crushed. Emmerson drew the line explaining that the ideology is correct but that it is not always easily followed in it's entirety.

This movement sparked a change in all contemporary fiction and continues to impact us today.

Answer 5

Herman Melvile wrote the classic American novel Moby Dick. It is very representative because it confronts what is evil and confronts the American psyche about achievement. Jack London is another good choice because he was a scientific writer that tried to make everything in his works real. Call of the Wild is another great classic and it is an easier read than Moby Dick.

Answer 6

Oh, boy.

I like Emerson, even though I don't think he wrote actual books - more like poems. Jim Morrison could be considered a writer.

Hemingway captures a part of the American spirit very well; the bitter, deluded part. J.D. Salinger has this restlessness that forms just before one's social conscience does.

I agree with Jackie Collins, too, and will add Jaqueline Suzanne and Danielle Steele.

Answer 7

Walt Whitman spawned a whole new genre of stream of consciousness writers including Miller, Kerouac, Ginsbourg, and many others.
I could go on. But I don't feel like it.

Answer 8

I'd nominate hemmingway or Twain.

Answer 9

Jackie Collins. She is raw and blunt and realistic.