Wednesday, May 11, 2011

The #9 Seeds

ALL-TIME AMERICAN WRITER TOURNAMENT

A.) Frank Norris.

B.) John Berryman.

C.) Ray Bradbury.

D.) Margaret Mitchell.

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Norris was a great essayist about literature. He also wrote perhaps the greatest American novel, The Octopus.

Bradbury was a master writer at novel or story, wrote the best sci fi ever-- always a metaphor for our own era-- helped popularize the genre and more than anyone made it respectable.

Mitchell wrote possibly the most famous American novel and in it, two characters everyone knows in Rhett and Scarlett.

As for John Berryman, I'm including him because he was probably the best American poet at a time when American poetry was at its apex.

Each of these four, in very different ways, are giants of American literature. I'd have a hard time finding others at this point I could say that about-- though the rest of the crowd isn't lacking for wannabes, or those who came close.

1 comment:

  1. So if I'm reading this right, among other pairings for the first round, Margaret Mitchell will go up against Kurt Vonnegut? Intriguing.

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