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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jian" data-source="post: 9686358" data-attributes="member: 78087">And how much matters about how they are viewed afterwards? Do you have to wait until they’re dead to say they’re the best writer of the 20th century as far as the 21st century is concerned (so far)? It’s pretty complicated and depends on a lot of factors.For instance, one writer who’s often cited as one of the greatest American novelists of the 20th century and the writer of a major contender for the greatest American novel is F Scott Fitzgerald for The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald was mostly known as a gossip writer and occasional daring young novelist in his life, but was generally a critical and financial failure; when he died in 1940 he reasonably considered his work to be obscure and forgotten. However, The Great Gatsby was widely distributed to American servicemen in WW2 (due to a small cabal of publishers who really liked it and were asked to pick some books) and became extremely popular. It was then taught in schools for decades and adapted for film and TV several times, most recently in 2013 with Leonardo di Caprio. Fitzgerald is presumably livid he never got to see all the appreciation, wherever he is now. We have no idea whether anyone will think Gatsby is a great book in 50 or 100 years - maybe his popularity is temporary. Even Shakespeare dropped into obscurity for a century or so.</blockquote>