Do not ignore John Steinbeck and Shakepeare. Were you more influenced by Bob Dylan or John Lennon? (Tom Paxton and Donovan Leitch were just posers). Sylvia Plath in indecipherable (man's point of view) and Dory Previn had the bills paid by another.
2007-03-05 11:18:06 · 7 answers · asked by Perseus 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
Don't forget Billy Blake!
2007-03-05 11:18:47 · update #1
Me, but my book isn't published yet!
It's still a work in progress, but I am mused by all those that you have mentioned and by the state of the world.
2007-03-05 11:22:26 · answer #1 · answered by ontheroadagainwithoutyou 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
There is no one writer who did it best, unfortunately. I personally am more influenced by Lennon than by Dylan, and by Lennon & McCartney than just Lennon on his own.
If you know of any writer who actually explained the human condition convincingly, as opposed to just depicting it, I'd love to hear about him/her. As for people who depicted it, Homer is a good candidate. His characters never know what's going to happen next; even in the midst of extreme carnage and disruption they're thinking of home; they appreciate food and drink and companionship and family; and they are deeply flawed. (Achilles and Odysseus, his two greatest heroes, are each prone to excessively violent temper. Hector, the next greatest, isn't, but then he gets whacked in the Iliad and is dragged around the city behind a chariot until his body is falling to pieces.)
Which sociologist best explained the human condition? Almost none of them, but if any were then IMO it's a toss-up between Weber (gloomily realistic about the rather pathetic human longing for authority figures) and Marx (who wasn't exactly a sociologist but who understood greed, poverty and suffering very well).
2007-03-05 13:02:34 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Definately Buddha.
2007-03-05 11:26:40 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The South African writer JM Coetzee won the Nobel prize for literature for dark meditations on post-apartheid South Africa which have been acclaimed for reflecting the human condition. He gets my vote.
2007-03-05 11:24:43 · answer #4 · answered by BARROWMAN 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Richard Dawkins the man is spot on and uses logic and reason to back up his views rare qualities in a mad world of spin and lies
2007-03-05 11:38:24 · answer #5 · answered by properwired 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Any song written by Frank Zappa. It shows we are all frightened and cowardly children at heart who make mistakes throughout our lives whilst still displaying an outward sign of adult maturity and competence.
2007-03-05 11:28:48 · answer #6 · answered by stef555stef 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Have you read Hawaii by James Michener?
2007-03-05 11:23:19 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋