As an English, English Lit. graduate the obvious answer is Shakespeare.
However, that answer is informed entirely by the cannon of English literature, more specifically Western European, more specifically English.
In France do they see Voltaire or Flaubert as the greatest writer? In Russia is it Dostoevsky or Tolstoy? What about Muhammad for the Qu’ran? There must be candidates from China, Japan or India: who are they?
So, who are the contenders for greatest writer ever, including those from outside the English-speaking cannon? What is the view of those outside (for example) Western Europe on Shakespeare?
I have an issue with the obvious answer. Shakespeare was a poet and playwright, and in those forms his genius is certainly undeniable, however his plotting was formulaic, and he has no real prose to evaluate, its all verse and dialog. So even in the english language, I’m not sure I would categoize hime as the best writer. My vote would go to Dickens.
In India, Rabindranath Tagore is considered to be up there at the very least. He won the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature. He also painted and wrote songs, as well as poetry, short stories, and novels.
I am not a lit. Graduate, so I am quite prepared to have my ass handed to me here. As a theater student, my study of Shakespeare was from a performance perspective rather than a literary one. That being said, I agree that by strict definition some of his work can be literally defined as prose, as some of his characters break out of the iambic pentameter. However, it’s still dialog, not the narrative prose that one would find in writings that are complete in of themselves (novels, essays, acticles, etc) rather than something written as the basis for a whole other form of expression. Writing to be read is wholly different from writing to be performed.
So one could claim Hamlet is the greatest play ever written, and perhaps the play I would like to see above any others, but I don’t think you can make the same claim comparing the printed script to a work like Great Expectations. Without the performace there’s just a little too much ‘They fight’ for my taste. So Shakespeare as greatest Playwright, sure, ok. Poet? Arguable. Writer? I just don’t see it. He’s too specialized.
I think Thomas Hardy deserves a mention here - his work might not be as broad or extensive as some others, but I get the sense of a powerful mind in operation behind what we do have of him.
I am certainly nothing more than an amateur literature buff, but I have heard several professors (and a few other sources) refer to Dostoevsky as the greatest novelist of all time. As a huge fan of his I would have to agree with them, but as I said my credentials for being able to say that are fairly limited.
The problem is that Shakespeare is a giant at what he does, and immediately sets the standard. Then, it’s a matter of quibbling with what the standard is, and, if you want to look at things that Shakespeare didn’t do, you can put forth your own candidate based on those.
It’s clear that Shakespeare is the greatest writer in English. Other candidates are merely put forth for no other reason that people want to show their independence, so they’ll put forth quibbles and bits.
Discounting Shakespeare because he didn’t write novels is like discounting him because he didn’t write video games. There’s no reason to believe Shakespeare couldn’t have written great novels if he wanted to.
In other languages, Shakespeare is also well regarded (in translation), but isn’t considered number one because he’s writing in English.* It would be up to native speakers to make a determination.
*And for English speakers to consider non-English writers as the greatest brings up the question, “Did you read the original language or a translation? If the latter, which one?”
Conversley, there’s no real reason to assume he could. He didn’t create his own stories, his plotting was contrived and cumbersome, we have no sense of his ability to write narrative or descriptive prose, his characters we broad and often rather two dimensional. None of this was real important in the arena he was working, but still, no guarantee his skill set would translate.
So what if Shakespeare’s skill set wouldn’t translate? He didn’t narrate his plays, he didn’t program them into an iPhone, he wrote them. He wrote fictional narratives, by virtue of which he was a writer. He was unquestionably not the greatest novelist in the English language, but that wasn’t the question.
As for other nationalities, Cervantes is the Spanish Shakespeare, and I’ve heard that Kahlil Gibran is the darling author of Lebanon.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve been thinking more modern than Shakespeare for the competition (with the exception, it now occurs to me, of Muhammad).
If (and I’m genuinely not sure how big an ‘if’ this is) the Iliad and the Odyssey were both written by the same person (whoever that is, and that is a big question), surely Homer gets a look-in?
[Sits back and waits for the inevitable D’oh jokes!]
What about the greatest female writer? Inevitably a cannon chosen by men features mostly men. I know even fewer non-English-writing female writers than I do male; beyond Austen, one or two (Charlotte and Emily) of the Brontes, Aphra Behn, who have we got?
I find it hard to look at Shakespeare as the greatest writer in the English language. I think he’s the most influential artist to ever work using the English language, period. But playwright is spelled playwright instead of playwrite for a reason. The word has more in common with the term “cartwright” or “shipwright” than it does the term “writer.” Playwrights craft plays, they build them. You can definitely assert that they write them, because that is the mechanical act required to produce a script, but that’s akin to calling a shipwright a “hammerer” or a “laborer” both would be accurate and both would not properly convey what it is a shipwright does.
I believe Shakespeare is the best playwright who created his plays in English, but theater is a distinct, important art form because of the fact it is performance art. The script is like the blueprint, but the blueprint, even if great, is entirely dependent on great actors to make the production a success. Shakespeare would not be remembered today if he had not put on great performances in his own time, no one bothers to remember a script unless it’s attached to a great play. It has to be remembered Shakespeare wasn’t just a playwright, he produced, acted, directed et cetera, and he was probably exceptionally talented in all of those roles because his plays were incredibly popular in his own time, so much so that they live on to an incredible degree some 400 years later.
I think this is completely inaccurate. A playwright’s traditional job is to build a narrative through characters’ words and actions, a narrative that will then be presented to a passive audience for their entertainment and edification. A novelist’s job is to build a narrative through characters’ words and actions, a narrative that will then presented to a passive audience for their entertainment and edification. A shipwright’s job is to design and build a vessel that will transport people.
It is bizarre to me to suggest that a playwright’s job is closer to a shipwright’s than to a novelist’s. What skills are necessary for novel-writing and play-writing? A good vocabulary, the ability to turn a phrase well, a keen insight into human nature, a sense of dramatic pacing, etc. What skills ar enecessary for both play-writing and ship-building? I’m not sure.
So we aren’t allowed to debate that Shakespeare is the greatest writer? This reminds me of the ‘Citizen Kane’ thread… I guess it’s just become common knowledge now, so he is unassailable.
As others have mentioned in this thread, I would proffer Twain - and while I wouldn’t necessarily ‘rank’ him ahead of him, he is certainly a peer.
Oh, we can absolutely debate it; it just irritates me when people try to knock him out on a technicality. If you want to argue the case on the merits (his plots are formulaic, he cynically adjusted plays to please his benefactors, he relies too heavily on wordplay, whatever), I’d be interested to hear the points.