Who are the greatest English writers?

Question

Definately a few come to mind...I have a spot for Hemingway, but Atwood is a good modern writer too.

I mean English as English language....could be British, Canadian, American, doesn't matter as long as it was originally written in English.

Answer 1

Obviously Charles Dickens and jane Austen were amazing but as far as sales go, I would say the likes of Agatha Christie or maybe JK Rowling.

Answer 2

Pearl Buck,
Jane Austen,
Charlotte/Emily Bronte,
Louisa May Alcott,
Willa Cathers,
Margaret Mitchell
Emily Dickenson
Charles Dickens,
PD James
George Orwell
Ayn Rand

I'm 15... I'm a pretty mature reader. These are the only ones I can think of right now.

Answer 3

Sidney Sheldon is one of the modern writers specialist in his genre of work, hez a good comedy writer ( I dream of Jeanie ), also mastered in writing suspense psycho thriller. Then I like John Grisham, Dan Brown, Jeffrey Archer is the most famous.

But if i've to go back and seek the oldies, then Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the most famous man to have written Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie, Mark Twain, Khalil Gibran and unforgettable Paulo Coelho, I've read their books so i can truly acknowledge them as the best or trying to be the best ( this is for the modern writers lol )

Oh John Grisham is all decked up on Law but then as far as hez entertaining i'm not complaining. I'm intrigued with P .G Wodehouse and want to read some of his work truly it's the second time i came across this writers name and i'm indeed going on a hunt for his books.

Answer 4

Even though this is quite subjective, I believe it is a fairly universal belief that William Shakespeare is at the top of this list. Jane Austen and George Orwell are both up there, too, I think.

My personal favourite, but lesser known, is Douglas Coupland.

Also, I think J.K. Rowling is overrated. I'm glad the Harry Potter phenomenon happened, because it made many kids want to read when they otherwise wouldn't, but, as a writer, she is good, not amazing.

Answer 5

Jane Austen, JRR Tolkien, Charles Dickens

Currently JK Rowling

Answer 6

Virginia Woolf,
Jane Austen,
Agatha Christie,
Brontes sisters,
Roald Dahl
C. Dickens
O. Wilde
George Orwell
Daniel Defoe

J.K. Rowling,
J. Deaver
P. Cornwell

That's all, I think...

Answer 7

Examples are Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles Dickens, and the Most famous is of course William Shakespeare.

Answer 8

I like early to mid 20th century writers like P G Wodehouse and George Orwell but for different reasons. With Wodehouse his stories are set in a world where nothing really bad ever happens and make for good light and often very funny reading. George Orwell, a contemporary of Wodehouse, was very much different. I prefer his memoirs and reminisinces to his fiction though. Orwell quite often gave an interesting insight to the things he saw, for instance the Spanish Civil War (in 'Homage to Catalonia') or his experiences with poverty ('Down and Out in Paris and London')

Answer 9

oooh difficult question! Far too many to mention - but a few (in no particular order): Graham Greene, Saul Bellow, Ernest Hemingway, Raymond Chandler, Thomas Mann, Charles Dickens, W.M. Thackeray, Patrick White...I could go on and on!! And of cxourse Shakespeare but I thought he was too obvious to mention;)

Answer 10

Tolkien, JK Rowling (even if she copies tolkien), coleridge (the Kublah Khan is kind of fabulous), Jane AUsten, Emily Bronte, Graham Greene... they are just a few writers that are coming to my mind now...