Your Top 10 Favorite Writers

[Sergeant Rock]

Five novelists, five poets

Thomas Pynchon
Vladimir Nabokov
J.P. Donleavy
John Barth
Larry McMurtry

John Berryman
Charles Bukowski
T.S. Eliot
Philip Larkin
Conrad Aiken

[Florestan]

Maupassant wrote mostly short stories, and they are anything but stodgy!

True but he is hardly early 19th century. 

[Christo]

exclude Romanians, whose names wouldn't probably ring many bells to you.

Why wouldn't you consider Nobel Prize laureate Herta Müller a Romanian author? She's impressive IMO.

In bold the winners, in brackets the runners up.
Russia: Dostoievsky, Solzhenitsyn (Tolstoy, Tchekhov)
France: Hugo, Baudelaire (Balzac, Saint-Exupery)
England: Dickens, Joseph Conrad (Lewis Carroll, David Lodge)
Germany / German-language: Hermann Hesse, Thomas Mann (ETA Hoffmann, Joseph Roth)
Spain: Cervantes, Becquer (Unamuno, Pio Baroja)
USA: Poe, Steinbeck (Hemingway, Fitzgerald)
Latin America: Vargas Llosa, Garcia Marquez (Alejo Carpentier, Borges)
and two honorable mentions: Alessandro Manzoni, Henryk Sienkiewicz.
Sorry, I couldn't trim it to just 10.

Nice format. My intimations of literature would look like:
Albania & Estonia: Ismail Kadare, Jaan Kross
Belgium & Curaçao: Willem Elschot, Boeli van Leeuwen
Germany: Thomas Mann, Reinhold Schneider (Goethe, Hesse)
Israël: Amos Oz (for the sake of A Tale of Love and Darkness only, otherwise I prefer David Grossman)
Italy & France: Dante Alighieri, Albert Camus (Yourcenar)
Poland & Peru: Czesław Miłosz, Vargas Llosa
Portugal & Spain: José Saramago, Jorge Semprun
Russia: Lev Tolstoy, Konstantin Paustovsky (Dostoyevsky, Solzhenitsyn, Brodsky)
UK: W.H. Auden, William Golding (T.S. Eliot, George Orwell)
US: John Williams, Marylinne Robinson (Philip Roth)

[Florestan]

Why wouldn't you consider Nobel Prize laureate Herta Müller a Romanian author? She's impressive IMO.

Who said I wouldn't? I do. I haven't read anything by her though.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Conrad Aiken

I don't know his poetry, but I love his short stories. The critic Martin Seymour-Smith (who probably read more literature than any other person who lived in the 20th century, in about 20 different languages to boot) claimed he was one of the top half-dozen or so short story writers active since 1900.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Nobody here listed Jean Paul, ETA Hoffman, Stendhal etc on their top ten, but the composers who were their contempories, and in many cases, inspirations, would be on most of our top ten composer lists

On the other hand, poetry of that period - Coleridge, Wordsworth, Keats, Pushkin, Goethe, Hölderlin, etc. - still has a lot of readers.

[Sergeant Rock]

I don't know his poetry, but I love his short stories. The critic Martin Seymour-Smith (who probably read more literature than any other person who lived in the 20th century, in about 20 different languages to boot) claimed he was one of the top half-dozen or so short story writers active since 1900.

I don't know his stories (save Silent Snow, Secret Snow); I should rectify that.

Sarge

[Baron Scarpia]

William Faulkner
Josef Conrad
Margaret Atwood
Iris Murdoch
Sarah Waters
Zadie Smith
Toni Morrison
Thomas Hardy
Carson McCullers
Kazuo Ishiguro

[Sergeant Rock]

Here is the first chapter to a representative Keeler novel. I doubt more than 1 of you will get through it, but that 1 person may find a new perennial source of amusement. Or may never take a recommendation from me again.

I did read the entire chapter and enjoyed it, but have not decided which sort of person I may be   Keeler's output seems enormous. Any suggestion of where to start?

Sarge

[bwv 1080]

On the other hand, poetry of that period - Coleridge, Wordsworth, Keats, Pushkin, Goethe, Hölderlin, etc. - still has a lot of readers.

True,  good point

[Jo498]

On the other hand, poetry of that period - Coleridge, Wordsworth, Keats, Pushkin, Goethe, Hölderlin, etc. - still has a lot of readers.

So does E.T.A. Hoffmann, at least in Germany. Although Nutcracker and Les Contes d'Hoffmann are probably more popular than his original writings, several of his novellas are frequently assigned in middle school (e.g. Madame de Scuderi and Sandman) and as poetry is far more of a minority taste I'd bet that Hoffmann novellas are still better known and more frequently read than Hölderlin poems.
Jean Paul seems an acquired taste (I never read any of his novels) but this was probably already the case back then.
But at least some novels of Austen and Scott are still hugely popular, aren't they?

[North Star]

I've had the impression that Scott's works are practically forgotten. Austen & Brontës are certainly not, though.

[Florestan]

I've had the impression that Scott's works are practically forgotten.

I read Ivanhoe a few years ago. It was a page turner --- and quite humorous too.

And you just reminded me of one of my favorite writers of historical novels: your fellow countryman Mika Waltari.

[Florestan]

Josef Conrad

Glad to see some love for Conrad.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

If mangakas would count as writers (at least those who at least write as well as illustrate them) I would mention Hajime Isayama, the creator of Shingeki no Kyojin. His writing style is so appealing, at times funny, yet also extremely complex, Shakespearean, I would say, except I like him even more than Shakespeare. And his illustrations are just fine, no matter what anyone says.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

So does E.T.A. Hoffmann, at least in Germany. Although Nutcracker and Les Contes d'Hoffmann are probably more popular than his original writings, several of his novellas are frequently assigned in middle school (e.g. Madame de Scuderi and Sandman) and as poetry is far more of a minority taste I'd bet that Hoffmann novellas are still better known and more frequently read than Hölderlin poems.

Hoffmann still gets a lot of respect at least as one of the influencers of modern fantasy & science fiction, though I don't know how widely he is read outside of Germany. I've read several of his works, including Kater Murr, which has to be one of the craziest experimental novels ever written.

I've had the impression that Scott's works are practically forgotten.

Certainly not forgotten; he still has some readers, although (as with Hoffmann) his influence on the subsequent course of novel-writing was huge, whether people read him or not.

Speaking of "forgotten" authors with a huge influence, I wonder if anyone still reads Samuel Richardson, or James "Ossian" Macpherson?

[Ken B]

Hoffmann still gets a lot of respect at least as one of the influencers of modern fantasy & science fiction, though I don't know how widely he is read outside of Germany. I've read several of his works, including Kater Murr, which has to be one of the craziest experimental novels ever written.

Certainly not forgotten; he still has some readers, although (as with Hoffmann) his influence on the subsequent course of novel-writing was huge, whether people read him or not.

Speaking of "forgotten" authors with a huge influence, I wonder if anyone still reads Samuel Richardson, or James "Ossian" Macpherson?

Pamela was particularly recommended to me, but I haven't indulged. Only Haydn fanciers and English lit grad students read Ossian I expect. I did read excerpts in an anthology, possibly a Norton (?).

PS I have read some stories by Hoffmann

[Jo498]

I never read McPherson/Ossian but I encountered him first when reading Goethe's "Werther" in high school (Werther's mood is reflected in his reading, among other things, mostly Homer and Ossian, the latter being for the more lovesick/sad episodes) and later in Gade's "Ossian" Ouverture. I think my sister had to read "Pamela" when she got an M.A. in English literature.

In Hoffmann's case there is internationally probably a discrepancy between him being well known because of Nutcracker, Coppélia, Contes d'Hoffmann, Cardillac, Kreisleriana and probably a few more adaptations of his most famous pieces than actually read. But as I said, at least in Germany some of his novellas are often a part of the standard middle/high school curriculum. And many music lovers will encounter his writings on Beethoven, Mozart and Gluck sooner or later.
Even his music is not completely forgotten although his writings were certainly far more important and influential.
He was a somewhat tragic figure (alcoholic and had to work a boring law/office day job because he could not make a living from his music and writing) but really fascinating.

[Brian]

I did read the entire chapter and enjoyed it, but have not decided which sort of person I may be   Keeler's output seems enormous. Any suggestion of where to start?

Sarge

The Riddle of the Traveling Skull is one of the most readable, one of the funniest, and by far the easiest to find a copy of. When Thief Meets Thief is available online for completely free. And as I mentioned before, The Sharkskin Book has maybe the most ludicrous ending ever. (Although Traveling Skull does end with a twist I once described as causing "crippling but enjoyable brain cramps"  )

[kishnevi]

Hoffmann still gets a lot of respect at least as one of the influencers of modern fantasy & science fiction, though I don't know how widely he is read outside of Germany. I've read several of his works, including Kater Murr, which has to be one of the craziest experimental novels ever written.

Certainly not forgotten; he still has some readers, although (as with Hoffmann) his influence on the subsequent course of novel-writing was huge, whether people read him or not.

Speaking of "forgotten" authors with a huge influence, I wonder if anyone still reads Samuel Richardson, or James "Ossian" Macpherson?

I have tried to read all of Richardson's novels, but never finished any of them. But have them on my shelves if I ever want a re-try.
Read several by Scott,both as a kid and a grown-up. I think his best novel is Heart of Midlothian.

A good 18th century comic novel not by Henry Fielding is The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker by Tobias Smollett.

Another c 1800 writer I generally enjoyed reading (once I got used to her sentimental effusions) was Anne Radcliffe. The Mysteries of Udolpho is her best known but I think The Italian would be easier for a modern reader.

I've read at least one book by Mika Waltari, many years ago.

A 20th century writer probably now headed to oblivion is Thomas Costain. I read a couple by him when I was a teen. The one I liked best was The Tontine, which was long enough to require two volumes, and takes place in 19th century England.