# Who is on the Mount Rushmore of English Language Literature? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2012, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-on-the-mount-rushmore-of-english-language-literature/610054 "2012-01-19T19:48:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-on-the-mount-rushmore-of-english-language-literature/610054/61 "2012-01-22T22:27:16Z")
I was under the impression that there was other, more substantial, evidence beyond the Psalm 46 thing. I might be mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-on-the-mount-rushmore-of-english-language-literature/610054/62 "2012-01-23T00:29:06Z")
Not all of Dickens’ characters were especially believable. His themes tended towards the puerile: everything apparently would be better if people were just nicer to one another. He is probably among the most over-rated of English authors. Then again, if somebody wants to explain why Tale of Two Cities is a great work of literature, go right ahead. I’m not trying to be negative here: I’m just saying there are better candidates. > [@Albert Rose](#): > > My Comics Rushmore has Neil Gaiman, Garth Ennis, Frank Miller and Alan Moore. Real question: which of Garth Ennis’ work is worth reading/most worth reading? I’ve read over 6 of Steinbeck’s work and am a fan, but I understand that the cognoscenti believe him to be a lightweight. So fans of poetry lean towards Dickinson? ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-on-the-mount-rushmore-of-english-language-literature/610054/63 "2012-01-23T00:49:48Z")
> [@Bilbo1967](#): > > That would be “Sir lying little turd”, actually. “Sir lying little turd who can’t write his way out of a paper bag” would be still more accurate. 😃 Oh, and for short story writing, I’d nominate Kipling. ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-on-the-mount-rushmore-of-english-language-literature/610054/64 "2012-01-23T01:00:45Z")
Quoth [QUOTE=Quercus] I was wondering if King James deserves a spot, representing the group that actually did the translation work. I mean, as far as direct quotations and cultural references go, the King James Bible is probably ahead even of Shakespeare, and no comparison to whoever is in third place. [/QUOTE] > [@Chronos](#): > > Wasn’t Shakespeare himself a member of that team? No, though Rudyard Kipling, in his last published short story, [(Proofs of Holy Writ)](http://www.southerncrossreview.org/43/kipling-bible.htm) imagined he was, along with Ben Johnson. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-on-the-mount-rushmore-of-english-language-literature/610054/65 "2012-01-23T02:48:47Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Not all of Dickens’ characters were especially believable. His themes tended towards the puerile: everything apparently would be better if people were just nicer to one another. He is probably among the most over-rated of English authors. Then again, if somebody wants to explain why Tale of Two Cities is a great work of literature, go right ahead. I’m not trying to be negative here: I’m just saying there are better candidates. George Eliot possibly chief among them. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-on-the-mount-rushmore-of-english-language-literature/610054/66 "2012-01-25T21:37:49Z")
Max Torque: > [@](#): > > Any other writers who created an entire bookstore section, step forward! H. G. Wells, perhaps? Sure, Verne was right there with him, but we’re talking English language here, so he has to be excluded from the conversation. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-on-the-mount-rushmore-of-english-language-literature/610054/67 "2012-01-26T16:54:21Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2012, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-on-the-mount-rushmore-of-english-language-literature/610054/68 "2012-01-26T20:33:58Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > George Eliot possibly chief among them. Even though he was a lady. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-on-the-mount-rushmore-of-english-language-literature/610054/69 "2012-01-26T20:37:38Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Wasn’t Shakespeare himself a member of that team? > > Washington and Lincoln are turn of the 20th century? > > And Mark Twain is the quintessential American author-- If any American at all makes it onto the list, it has to be him. Chaucer, meanwhile, is arguable: He’s undeniably important, but it depends on what we mean by “English language”. The language of Chaucer is not the same language as that of Shakespeare, Twain, or us. I think Mark Twain is a good choice because of the breadth of his work. He didn’t JUST write stories about rural children in the Midwest, he wrote SF as well as a large quantity of very very good essays about American life that are still relevant today. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-on-the-mount-rushmore-of-english-language-literature/610054.md?page=3)