Who are the classical writers of the 21frst century

[arcanaman]

Who in 30-40 years will be remeber as the greatest writers of our time the one who people will be reading in english textbooks
for the life of me I can't think of anyone beside stephen king but I can't imagine people reading the dark tower series oir Misery in english text books please help me solve this personal crisis

 

[Grymar]

Hemmingway, Vonnegut, Stephen King, Huxley, Ayan Rand, Tolkein

<EDIT>
Crud, I just realized that you said 21st C. The above count for the 20th C, and most of the the latter half, but if you are talking 21st C it's nearly impossible to say since we are less than 10% into it.

 

[Mark]

GET to know me! - Lovitz

 

[Umbran]

Who in 30-40 years will be remeber as the greatest writers of our time the one who people will be reading in english textbooks

With only seven years in the 21st century, I don't think we can really say. Some of the "classic" writers of this century haven't been born yet.

 

[Morrus]

Who in 30-40 years will be remeber as the greatest writers of our time the one who people will be reading in english textbooks
for the life of me I can't think of anyone beside stephen king but I can't imagine people reading the dark tower series oir Misery in english text books please help me solve this personal crisis

Stephen King as one of the greatest writers of our time? Man, I hope general literacy doesn't fall THAT low! Next you'll be citing Britney Spears as one of the greatest musicians of our time!

But then I suppose Shakespeare was popular stuff for the masses in his time, so who can tell?

It's pretty hard to say. The 21st Century, as people have said above, is only 8 years in.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

Stephen King as one of the greatest writers of our time? Man, I hope general literacy doesn't fall THAT low!

I think Stephen King is given less credit than he deserves sometimes. He's written some junk, but he spins a damn good yarn. Whether they'll look back and call him one of the greatest writers of our time, no one can say.

I have no idea how to answer this question. But I do think we'll be looking back at Michael Chabon some day and analysing his work. His craft is excellent, his stories unique, and he captures a distinctly Jewish zeitgeist that is still accessible to a gentile like me. He's good stuff.

 

[Thanee]

J.K. Rowling

Seriously, I think noone. The classics will still be the same as they are now.

Bye
Thanee

 

[WayneLigon]

Probably nobody you'll hear of while you're alive. 'Classics' are tricky. Popular authors have been known to become classic authors - Dickens and Conan Doyle come to mind - but it seems rare. Other authors that were wildly popular - as in, most popular author in the world popular - in the 50's are now totally forgotten. I've seen King cited as one of the few that will probably be remembered 50-60 years from now, but you never know.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

I imagine someone like Gibson may be read, being how he is one of the founders of a genre of literature.

 

[Umbran]

I imagine someone like Gibson may be read, being how he is one of the founders of a genre of literature.

That depends on whether anyone cares about that genre 30 or 40 years from now. I'm not going to be surprised if cyberpunk falls off the face of the Earth before then. Same with "post singularity" sci-fi.