Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even Bob Dylan?
Especially Bob Dylan. Nasal whining isn't historical America.
I haven’t heard Homer’s voice. There’s more to being a songwriter than vocal talent, though.
Who Is America's Homer?
241–250 of 261 posts
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#242Longfellow, and that’s a hill I’d die on. Or Shakespeare; I’d die on that hill too.
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#243English 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 1…
This would make a great stand-up bit. You know, the kind you do on stage, to make people laugh.
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#244I 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…
Literally came to say the same... Mark Twain was my first thought here.
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#245Earlier quoted context omitted.
Clint Eastwood didn't write any of those. He's an actor, director and producer of other people's work.
Actor and Director and Producer would be more than enough for everybody. Especially combined with several Oscar wins as director and producer, and even Oscar nominations as actor (on top of iconic roles). But he has also been an OST composer for some films.
The point is a Homer or Twain, etc, were original authors of works and Eastwood was not an author of any of those works. If an unknown actor portrayed the lead in a Huckleberry Finn film, that would not elevate that actor to the level of a Mark Twain as an author.
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
The point was that the quote being used to falsely denigrate Twain is from an accused predator himself made worse by the fact that it's not anything Twain said which is why someone here also said it showed ignorance.
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
The point was that the quote being used to falsely denigrate Twain is from an accused predator himself made worse by the fact that it's not anything Twain said which is why someone here also said it showed ignorance.
> is from an accused predator himself
Genetic fallacy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_fallacy
> it's not anything Twain said
Right, Twain wrote it, so:
Distinction without a difference.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distinction_without_a_differen...
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#248Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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 aro…
What work of Disney (company, not the man per se...) is more influential on the modern American Psyche (today, in 2026) than Ironman, X-Men or Spiderman? Moana? Sleeping Beauty? Mickey Mouse? The only major "American identity" film I can think of was Princess and the Frog. Maybe Big Hero 6 (at least the San Francisco half). ----------- The others are correct in that Mark Twain is probably the real answer. But I'm thi…
In the spirit of “The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.” - James D. Nicoll
Yes, Sleeping Beauty, et al were originally from "not the US" countries, very few people outside those countries remembers that. Instead, they're Disney, or at least US.
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 l…
Steven Spielberg is probably the Homer of American cinema.
John Ford
Re: Who Is America's Homer?
#250I 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…
> I think it is somewhat weird that nobody put Twain in.
Twain wasn't a poet. The article specifies right at the start that it's looking for a great American poet.