171–180 of 261 posts
An odd question. America's "founding myths" are the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution. These are the Holy Scriptures, and - like the Homeric ones - have multiple authors but lack the obscurity of ancient history to allow that latter fact to be subsumed into the story as a single, blind bard.
Tracy Chapman is a really really good pick! I would pick F. Scott Fitzgerald. His book, The Great Gatsby, showed us that the 1920s in America was a highly divided society that was corrupted by materialism and more. His pessimism gives us a pretty good view into the past.
Reducing these countries to a single name is probably the reason why we can guess this was written by an american; each country has at least a bunch of inspired authors per couple of generations. The country it is actively being bombed right now is the "modern" reincarnation of a nation that is roughly 10x older than the US. We all know who american Homer is, and this is the first year ever we whish we was the presid…
To be clear, there are excellent american authors, and many comments mention them; its more of a "why am I reading stupid questions about history?"
Poetry has fallen out of favor in culture at large, so I think it’s more logical to expand the question to authors more generally. In that case, I think The Great Gatsby is the most logical equivalent to the Iliad and Odyssey. To me it conveys the essential elements of the American character: obsessed with reinvention via commerce, but inevitably tied to the past. It’s also probably been read by the majority of Ameri…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> the real answer might very well be a musician or filmmaker, not a writer. Walter Disney, obviously. Well, it will probably take at least another century for the fact to hit.
Stan Lee probably had more influence than Walt Disney in terms of how Americans see themselves and how people around the world sees us. Walt Disney is overwhelmingly about older stories (Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty), and not anything I feel distinctly "American". The most popular and timeless properties out of Disney (ex: Mickey Mouse) aren't really telling stories or setting cultural trends IMO. Meanwhil…