No Mark Twain?
Who Is America's Homer?
11–20 of 261 posts
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#12Unfortunately that title is already reserved in the US for Homer Simpson.
Ergo, Matt Groening.
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#13Some good takes so I hate to be glib but no one because 1. the US was founded long after the invention of writing and even the printing press plus 2. bronze age morality and worldview are completely alien to us in ways that no subculture in the US is.
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#14I cannot answer that and I think it will be years before, so I went with "Nobody Yet".
Tracy Chapman is an interesting pick, but I think she could be in the future. But I am surprised Thoreau was not in the list, at least from what I was able to read.
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#15Solid read. Recommendations elaborated on in the article are a solid set. Mark Twain or Walt Whitman would probably get my vote.
Woody Guthrie, who gets a mention in the article, would get my vote.
I would argue that while poets and playwrights are a solid choice for ancient Greece, Music and Movies is the equivalent for America. Woody Guthrie is a solid choice because he traveled and collected folk music which was reflected in his own expressions.
As for movies I would want Jim Jarmusch to be Americas Homer, just because I like his movies a lot. But in reality I think the Coen Brothers are a more solid choice (aside from the fact that they have indeed adopted the Odyssey as an American folk story in Oh Brother Where Art Thou)
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#16isn't it obviously steinbeck?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_of_Eden_(novel)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grapes_of_Wrath (one of the best books i've ever read)
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#17> Do we have a great poet who captures the American spirit, the American story, the American identity?
Dare I suggest Bob Dylan?
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#18Stephen King. Homer was not great literature at the time he his works were written. He was popular entertainment with a dose of folk religion. I’m not sure Homer existed. 1000 years from now people will say the same of SK.
"Homer was not great literature at the time he his works were written".
They were not written at all. No written literature existed in the time of Homer.
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#19Outis.
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#20English majors seem to have banded together to crown only the most inaccessible and politically charged authors as worthy of attention. If you like anyone else, you're just too inexperienced or partisan to appreciate real literature. To hell with them.
The answer is Brandon Sanderson who is freely sharing his knowledge of how to write with the world. His teachings will touch more in the coming years than any stodgy 1920s writer ever cared to.