Recently on an internet-surfing session that was directionless as it was attenuated, I came upon this peculiar list: The 100 Greatest Writers of All Time. Leaving aside for a moment the inherent absurdity of such a list (and it is pretty ridiculous) it’s a nifty little conversation piece. There seem to be some big misses (Where’s Camus? Gass? Kerouac? Ginsberg? McCarthy? Christina Stead? Patrick White?), and not putting Shakespeare first is just nonsensical, but some time was clearly put into this thing and it’s a worthy vehicle for discovering great authors. There are some nice surprises on there too (W.G. Sebald! Stanley Elkin!).
Anyway, take a look.
–Jonathon Walter
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Ok… Ginsberg… and spelling mistakes. Wackness.