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Who Is America's Homer?
201–210 of 261 posts
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd actually put one in for Clint Eastwood. Although most popular knowledge about him revolves around his earlier acting career (Westerns, Dirty Harry), you'll notice a distinct change in many of his films once he started directing. * Play Misty for Me * Breezy * Unforgiven * A Perfect World * The Bridges of Madison County * Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil * Mystic River * Million Dollar Baby * Changeling * G…
The American medium is film/TV. The Godfather is the great American novel. A story about immigrants moving to America and starting a family business.
Today it might be but it wasn't always. I still remember curling up with a good book and I still do today. I know a lot of younger people might not even have a library card or go looking for a good novel to read.
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#203I think it is somewhat weird that nobody put Twain in. I could also see someone suggesting Hemingway, although I don't buy it. Hart Crane at this point in time seems somewhat secondary, so that was surprising. The Tracy Chapman thing seemed seriously like a troll, I could definitely agree to a black Homer, but then I guess it would be Langston Hughes or James Baldwin as my choices. To suggest someone though who has t…
Tis surely Twain, but come on, he came ages after Homer and came with civilisation that was not there in America when Homer lived. The whole idea for looking for America’s …Homer is just super bizarre. Modern (last 150-200 years) of America is not what it was thousands of years ago - it stands on the burial grounds of millions of indigenous people obliterated altogether with their cultural inheritance. It is question…
> So your American Homer’s legacy perhaps lies buried down in some unmarked indigenous grave.
There are probably people similar to Homer in someways. However, the thing about Homer is that he influenced literature across most of Europe, North Africa, and much of the Middle East. I do not think any one culture in North America had the wide influence the Greeks did.
> Homer was 2k years ago.
Almost 3k years ago, and very likely to have just written down an existing oral tradition that could be much older. The historical events on which the story is based are about a half millennium earlier than Homer.
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#204Mark Twain is America's Homer One aspect of Huckleberry Finn (the novel) that I think is relevant today is the spectacularly stupid zero-sum conflict between the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons. It seems relevant to the US's politics and many international conflicts
Would anyone go out of their way to read any of Twain if it wasn’t required high school reading? Also the American Homer is/was Garrison Keillor. Homer’s delivery was oral and radio is surely closer to oratory than books.
Its not required reading in the UK and I still read Twain, as did my kids.
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I think it is somewhat weird that nobody put Twain in Edit: Lots of hate here. The question was why people didn't suggest Twain to be "America's Homer", and I answered the question: Twain is controversial, at least for some schools, and for someone such as CK, which should tell you something. Let's try not to shoot the messenger. If you didn't balk when you reached this line the first time you read the book, there…
And you're going to quote a guy accused of sexual misconduct? CK will never be a Homer. But bringing that quote up from a piece of literature, not just something he said, is being ridiculous.
If you are not going to quote people accused of (or even known to be guilty of) sexual misconduct that covers a lot of authors and creative people in general.
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#206[dead]
The FIFA Prize in Literature goes to Trump.
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#207Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#208Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#209Earlier 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…
>Stan Lee probably had more influence than Walt Disney in terms of how Americans see themselves and how people around the world sees us.
Seriously doubt it.
Both "how Americans see themselves and how people around the world sees them" was established way before both the MCU and before superhero comics became anything else than a preoccupation of the nerdy niche.
In the 60s, and 70s, and 80s, few fucks were given around the world for the Marvel comic universe (they still sold somewhat, just not that important culturally), and it was definitely not how people got to perceive the US: hollywood, the western, rock n' roll, all those were 100x more important. And Disney was way more important than Marvel at the time too.
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#210Earlier quoted context omitted.
Twain is a good choice, but he also works against the mythology of America. His whole thing was popping bubbles and making grounded stories that work against the backdrop of Americana. Tracy Chapman is a pretty trolly answer, but I suspect the real answer might very well be a musician or filmmaker, not a writer.
Kubrick
British.