# What authors writing today will someday be shelved in the "Classics" section? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 29, 2009, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-authors-writing-today-will-someday-be-shelved-in-the-classics-section/519393 "2009-11-29T23:14:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![heavybuhbuh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@heavybuhbuh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heavybuhbuh)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-authors-writing-today-will-someday-be-shelved-in-the-classics-section/519393/61 "2009-12-01T05:12:33Z")
How about Phillip K. Dick. ---
**Author:** ![Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shinna_Minna_Ma)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-authors-writing-today-will-someday-be-shelved-in-the-classics-section/519393/62 "2009-12-01T10:07:07Z")
Garrison Keillor. His storytelling and writing ability. to me, are superb. SMM ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-authors-writing-today-will-someday-be-shelved-in-the-classics-section/519393/63 "2009-12-01T10:14:48Z")
Crichton is definitely a hack, but he’s become somewhat of a Mendoza line for novelists: this is as bad the writing can be and still have a strong following. I don’t think he’ll be a classic though. As much as I love Stephen King, all of his main characters are Stephen King clones: writers with drug problems from Boston. When he tries a different character, the novel fails. My picks: Anne Rice J.K. Rowling (on a technicality, I think. There’s always at least one novel in every reading list to demonstrate “local color,” e.g. accents.) Thomas Harris ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-authors-writing-today-will-someday-be-shelved-in-the-classics-section/519393/64 "2009-12-01T11:10:10Z")
No love for Khaled Hosseini? I think the Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns are as worthy of study and assignment as anything I read in high school. Especially Suns. Also, what about Paulo Coelho? The Alchemist would be an excellent thing to assign to high schoolers. It has some real depth, but the story and writing is so approachable. And even entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-authors-writing-today-will-someday-be-shelved-in-the-classics-section/519393/65 "2009-12-01T12:13:40Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Ahhhhh, the Masters. You mean “The Giants.” [/geekpicking] ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-authors-writing-today-will-someday-be-shelved-in-the-classics-section/519393/66 "2009-12-01T12:49:24Z")
\<-- Hangs head in Geek-shame. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-authors-writing-today-will-someday-be-shelved-in-the-classics-section/519393/67 "2009-12-01T14:54:25Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Wow. Your O’Connor reading software is bustit. O’Connor is one of a very short list of authors who should’ve gotten a Nobel prize, if it weren’t for that pesky rule against posthumous recipients; King is the bottom of the bottom of the nastiest trash barrel. They’re not in the same universe. King’s horrors are misanthropic, sadistic wallowings in the worst aspects of stunted humanity; O’Connors horrors are about how big the universe is and how we fit in it. > > I get that a lot of people don’t get a lot out of O’Connor, but to compare Stephen King to Flannery O’Connor is just about the most outrageous travesty I’ve ever come across in this forum. So, if I like O’Connor and King, then I’m stupid, low, and common enough for King and too dense to understand what I’m reading in O’Connor? Just checking. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-authors-writing-today-will-someday-be-shelved-in-the-classics-section/519393/68 "2009-12-01T15:21:39Z")
Off the top of my head, a few names worth adding to the list: John Banville John McGahern Colm Toibin (OK, I’ve been been reading a lot of Irish writers lately). Also worth mentioning: Donald Barthelme (and maybe his brother Frederick) Brian Moore ---
**Author:** ![Sparrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Sparrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparrow)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-authors-writing-today-will-someday-be-shelved-in-the-classics-section/519393/69 "2009-12-01T15:29:40Z")
Two who I think are already there: Terry Pratchett Patrick O’Brian. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-authors-writing-today-will-someday-be-shelved-in-the-classics-section/519393/70 "2009-12-01T15:55:31Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > As much as I love Stephen King, all of his main characters are Stephen King clones: writers with drug problems from Boston. When he tries a different character, the novel fails. Andy Dufresne “Red” Stu Redman Randall Flagg Roland Dolores Claiborne (I agree with someone earlier, I think this is one of his best) Annie Wilkes Those are just a few of what I think are very successful characters that King has written that do not fit the description of drugged out writer. I don’t believe all of his work is noteworthy, but I do believe some of his work will survive for a very long time. Although, reading through this thread again, I’m surprised I’m the only one with love for Larry McMurtry (so far), I’ve never read a stinker of his- he is consistently great IMHO, and I’ve read plenty stinkers of King’s. Both authors are very prolific as well. ---
**Author:** ![Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-authors-writing-today-will-someday-be-shelved-in-the-classics-section/519393/71 "2009-12-01T16:52:31Z")
Kurt Vonnegut and Ray Bradbury. Yeah, I know Vonnegut’s dead and Bradbury’s pretty much retired but I figured they were close enough to merit a mention. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-authors-writing-today-will-someday-be-shelved-in-the-classics-section/519393/72 "2009-12-01T17:30:47Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > So, if I like O’Connor and King, then I’m stupid, low, and common enough for King and too dense to understand what I’m reading in O’Connor? Just checking. Read into whatever you want. Or . . . you can take my criticism of a writer’s works for, get this, _criticism of a writer’s works_. Unless you’re the writer in question, taking it personally is solipsistic and paranoid. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-authors-writing-today-will-someday-be-shelved-in-the-classics-section/519393/73 "2009-12-01T17:32:00Z")
Jose Saramago for sure. Nobel Prize winner for literature in 1998 and a wonderful novelist. ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-authors-writing-today-will-someday-be-shelved-in-the-classics-section/519393/74 "2009-12-01T17:54:00Z")
Pat Conroy ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-authors-writing-today-will-someday-be-shelved-in-the-classics-section/519393/75 "2009-12-01T18:43:43Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > \<– Hangs head in Geek-shame. Don’t feel badly. I had to go on IMDB to make sure I got the quote right. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-authors-writing-today-will-someday-be-shelved-in-the-classics-section/519393/76 "2009-12-01T19:03:48Z")
Ones that have been mentioned that I hope become classics - David Sedaris and Chuck Palahniuk. I also think Philip K. Dick will be there. How about William Gibson? For those who think JK Rowling won’t be there, you’re fooling yourselves. Millions and millions of kids had those novels begin their love of reading. She will be held in the same esteem as JRR Tolkein in fifty years. I’ll add WP Kinsella for consideration. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-authors-writing-today-will-someday-be-shelved-in-the-classics-section/519393/77 "2009-12-01T20:10:01Z")
> [@LVBoPeep](#): > > Although, reading through this thread again, I’m surprised I’m the only one with love for Larry McMurtry (so far), I’ve never read a stinker of his- he is consistently great IMHO, and I’ve read plenty stinkers of King’s. Both authors are very prolific as well. While I wouldn’t have thought of him I’ll second the motion. I remember being stunned when I realized that _Lonesome Dove_ and Aurora Greenway came from the same writer. ---
**Author:** ![Kylede](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a6a055/32.png) [@Kylede](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kylede)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-authors-writing-today-will-someday-be-shelved-in-the-classics-section/519393/78 "2009-12-01T20:24:43Z")
Usually what makes the “Classics” classic is the emotion they inspire. For everyone who loves Dickens, there is someone who think pay-by-the-word was the most horrible thing invented. It is the same ofr all the “Classics” authors…you either love them or hate them. Sallinger, Twain, Fitzgerald (trying to stay American here), Hawthorne, Poe, they all have as many haters as fans. If the venom and vitriol, as well as the admiration and adoration (oh look , alliterive) on this thread are any indication, I belive King will some day be in the “Classics” ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-authors-writing-today-will-someday-be-shelved-in-the-classics-section/519393/79 "2009-12-01T20:29:49Z")
I’m going to suggest Dennis Lehane. His Patrick Kenzie novels are some of the most creative, literate modern detective novels to come out in quite some time. I really think he’ll be ranked among Hammet, Chandler and Christie. And his non-detective work stands up as well. I wasn’t a fan of Shutter Island, but Mystic River was a great read, and I thought his most recent, The Given Day, was his best yet. ---
**Author:** ![enigmatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@enigmatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enigmatic)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-authors-writing-today-will-someday-be-shelved-in-the-classics-section/519393/80 "2009-12-01T20:30:59Z")
Rowling definitely, Her stuff stands up OK, compared to a lot of the other YA classics. I think Twilight will be forgotten pretty quickly, but maybe that’s just wishful thinking. King probably will, but his stuff is very variable in quality, I have difficulty in believing that anyone will ever see the Tommyknockers as a classic. I’d be interested in knowing how many of the people who don’t think he is a good writer have read his short stories? The guys main problem seems to be that he can’t finish his longer works off to save his life. I’d like to see Pratchett go down in the classics, but I think there might be too many people who just won’t take his work as seriously as it deserves. ASOIF possibly, but only if Martin finishes it, which is looking less and less likely. Gaiman I think has plenty more good books in him, but the thing I really do think should be a classic is Sandman, and I don’t see comics being embraced as literature for a good while. That said, if anyone is going to get there, it will be Alan Moore, Watchmen, From Hell, and V for Vendetta might have a shot [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-authors-writing-today-will-someday-be-shelved-in-the-classics-section/519393.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-authors-writing-today-will-someday-be-shelved-in-the-classics-section/519393.md?page=5)