How do you feel about people insisting that one particular author is "the best ever"?

R

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I have recently been reminded of a series of questions from last summer in which I engaged in an ongoing debate with a particular asker about the anointing of Philip Roth as America's preeminent novelist, to the exclusion of all others.

I just wondered how you all feel about that sort of thing since I am incapable of picking one favorite book or naming a best ever author. To me there are just too many elements and apples compare badly with oranges in my world.

How about you? Absolutes or relatives, in the realm of art and literature?
Hello, "T". Thanks so much for stopping by ...
With all due respect T, I am with Michelle, among others, here. But I think you knew that.
No need to get snotty, T. I take back what I said about your good nature. And I'm a high school dropout so I obviously know nothing about literature, I just happen to have read more of it this year than you have in your whole spoiled little life.

Oops, I'm reverting to a former tone.
To all innocent bystanders:
Please forgive my cattiness.
Okay, I'd delete the previous entry if I could. Please try to ignore it? Thanks.
 
We are all attracted to many different things. Personally I am like the wind and what appeals to me today will not attract me down the road. Over the years I have refrained from declaring someone as the greatest, because I have learned that my taste expands as I mature and have more life experiences. I would probably be better at declaring someone as terrible than the greatest. I have never changed that opinion in any book, author or subject. Again it is all personal taste.
 
Hi there,

Well, I can certainly believe that some people are convinced that some author is the best writer in history. I usually take that as "s/he is the best writer that I know". Usually, people who say such a thing actually do not know many writer and/or books, and because they have read one really good book believe that nothing can compare to it.

I would never say that anyone was the best writer ever. Of course, Shakespeare is a very good poet and dramatist - but I am aware that many people prefer other writers. JKR has published a bestselling series of teen literature, but does that make her "the best writer ever"? I hardly think so.

Don't let them annoy you. Just take a few seconds to feel smarter than they.

Cheers
S
 
Hi there,

Well, I can certainly believe that some people are convinced that some author is the best writer in history. I usually take that as "s/he is the best writer that I know". Usually, people who say such a thing actually do not know many writer and/or books, and because they have read one really good book believe that nothing can compare to it.

I would never say that anyone was the best writer ever. Of course, Shakespeare is a very good poet and dramatist - but I am aware that many people prefer other writers. JKR has published a bestselling series of teen literature, but does that make her "the best writer ever"? I hardly think so.

Don't let them annoy you. Just take a few seconds to feel smarter than they.

Cheers
S
 
it annoys me when people do that. i almost never say someone is the best author ever, if i do say that it is just a slip, i usually just say 'they are my favorite'
I haven't read a book from every author who ever wrote something, I don't pretend to, I don't know if they are the best author ever, I just know they are my favorite author.

but i'm really indecisive about my favorite books. I have a favorite book, a favorite series, and a favorite author, and none of them have anything in common.

book: Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
Series: Inheritance Series (Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr) by Christopher Paolini
author: Mercedes Lackey
 
Reader,

I won't waste ink (or screen) to say what others have said; KK and Lyra and others eloquently expressed why "best ever" labels for authors are short-sighted.

So I'll take it up a level: there are approximately 6 billion universes cohabiting on this planet. There is such a grand, beautiful diversity among the human race that not only does it not make sense to declare a best author, but best and worst labels of just about everything are moot.

There are very few things that we know for sure - beyond a reasonable understanding of math and a rather basic understanding of physics, chemistry and biology is where we have to stop speaking with any certainty.

There is only a 98.6% chance that I am sitting in a cafe drinking a diet coke while writing this to you; it could just be in my head. Also, there is a 94.7% chance that all statistics are inaccurate.

Once we get into human perception and opinion, we really are walking around in 6 billion universes in our heads. It is astonishing the number of things we try to assert as 'true' or 'best' or 'bad.' But, I wouldn't have it other way: it gives rise to some of humanity's greatest virtues - its diversity and ability to learn and grow.

Shakespeare may not the 'best' author of all time, but he did get this right: 'There is nothing good nor bad; thinking only makes it so.'

(Or at least it is my fallible opinion that he got that right...)

xoxo

Michelle

*Edit* Oh, T - let's go ahead and throw this discussion open for all.

T wrote: "You are wrong with your thesis. I am right about Roth. I don't mean to quarrel, yet what I wrote is indisputable."

But, T, is it really indisputable if I dispute it...? :)

*Edit II* *Designs shiny red superhero costume with giant "V" in the center.*

I've never been called a superhero before! Being 'Viperina' is so cool. I promise to use my PMS powers for good, not evil...
.
 
I can't pick one author or book, either. There is a group of authors that I place into this exclusive high-end stylish list of mine, but they are in no particular order.

As for others who insist on one author being the best ever, well I suppose it's good for them, that they consider one author to be so great that they can put them at the top without a doubt. I can't be that certain about one author. I mean, I love Rowling and I love Pullman and I love Austen and about fifteen others, but there *are* too many elements to consider, at least for me.

But for others, I guess it's great that they've found an author so fantastic that they *can* put that single author on a pedestal. It just won't happen for me :)

Edit: It doesn't always have to do with the fact that they're not well-read or something. People get excited about the things they love, and whether they want to argue that Shakespeare is the best ever or Rowling or Homer, it's all a *huge* matter of opinion. But it doesn't make them short-sighted or anything like that, at least I don't think so.

I do agree, though, that if someone says that so and so is the best author ever, it generally means "the best author I've found so far." But it's not a negative thing.

@KK- You're absolutely right; art is never absolute.
 
I've only had a book or author that I thought was the best once in my life. But that was when I was five, and the Runaway Bunny picture book was all I knew.

Now, I can barely narrow my list of favorites in literature down at all. I agree with your apples and oranges comment. Each book I read is so different from the next that I cannot compare them. I think anyone who has a "best ever" author or book either has not read much or has *very* strong opinions.

To really be able to say you have read the "best book ever," one would have to have read every single book in the world. And even then, for one book to stand out among millions would be very unlikely. I doubt there ever will be an absolute best.
 
Screw them. Pardon my french. J'enlappe leppe france, I think it goes... (jen-leh-pa-leh-pa-frahncah) Tonq fromage y'on flam (your cheese is on fire, lol...) Wow, I'm getting weird... everyone is all 'Stephanie Meyer is the AWSOMEST author evah...' I mean, seriousley, I think that the main reason I hate Twilight so much is that everyone is obsessing over it. She's your FAVEROITE auther, not the best, dumbass.
 
I think best is in the eye of the beholder. What I like in plot, writing, character, etc is different than what you would say. To hold any one author up as best is subjective. Thus people insisting that one particular author is the the ever is a personal opinion, one I might take into account but most likely still disregard.
 
I am perverse enough that it makes me want to not ever read that author.

I don't have a problem with "my favorite" though, and seek them out sometimes, like I think I'll do with the "I am at the library" question.
 
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