That is the question.
Posted on 11/30/2022 2:46:18 AM PST by C19fan
She has won the good opinion of countless readers with her sparklingly witty prose.
And now – in something of a snub to the Bard – Jane Austen has been voted the greatest British author of all time.
The Georgian-era novelist beat Shakespeare to take top spot, with 44 per cent of the vote.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Obvious recency bias with some of the authors who made the list.
I’ve never heard of #3, Roald Dahl.
Yep, it’s just like if you go to IMDB, all the Marvel crap is rated super high by the users. It’s just what is popular right now.
I’ve never read Jane Austen, but honestly I’ve enjoyed the movie adaptations of her work. I didn’t think Shakespeare was all that fun to read back in high school, but the themes and story structure are timeless, obviously.
Dahl is most famous for his dark comedic children’s books. One can argue his most well-known work is “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.
The schools probably don’t teach Shakespeare much any more, so how can he be a statistical favorite? Chances are they teach one work by Shakespeare, if that. Instead they bring in low-brow popularizing works. You know, the ones the students can or will or have seen on video. After all, they reason, “they have to keep the kids “engaged.” The truth is the teachers themselves have been schooled the same way, so this is all they know. If they do know different, the administrators present them with official, approved and dictated reading lists.
Dahl is most famous for his dark comedic children’s books. One can argue his most well-known work is “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.
Ahhh. Okay. Thanks.
A sin to have left off Dickens, (and where is Kipling?).
Jane Austen, although deserving of high honor, I think rises and falls over the years - she has lately been "rediscovered" and a new generation has fallen in love with her - which is a good thing.
JK Rawling - great storyteller, not great literature.
Reminded me of rock stations that survey their listeners for best all-time albums. You will always get Allmans at Fillmore East and Abbey Road in the top ten, but No. 1 will be whatever is HOT that year.
1976 "Frampton Comes Alive" took the No. 1 slot, 5 years later it was AC/DC and Frampton had slid way down. Abbey Road and Allmans was still in the top ten (and always have been).
Austen, Shakespeare, CS Lewis will ALWAYS be top ten, no atter the generation, (but where the hell is Dickens!?)
Shakespeare’s problem might be that doubts have been cast about the authorship of some of his works.
Really? It was a staple growing up in the 80s for me.
An list made up by the profoundly ignorant.
England is dead.
More like Regency bias, amirite?
ping
Reminds me of a on old quote from Steven King (he may be a liberal kook, but he gets it right on occasion). When an interviewer referred to him as the greatest American writer of all time. His reply was, "No I'm not. My work is the literary equivalent of the McDonalds Cheeseburger. People love McDonald's cheeseburgers; they purchase and consume billions of them every year. But the greatest meal of all time? Not even close."
He wrote the children’s favorite,”James and the Giant Peach”.
Believe a movie was made from the book in the past ten years.
Why would he make the list? Woah.
“ Roald Dahl[a] (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent.[1][2] His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide.[3] Dahl has been called “one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century”.[4]”
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