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American writer. Top American Writers

Instruction

Perhaps the first American writer who managed to acquire world fame, became a poet and, at the same time, the founder of the detective genre, Edgar Allan Poe. Being a deep mystic by nature, Poe was not at all like an American. Perhaps that is why his work, not finding followers in the writer's homeland, had a noticeable influence on European literature era of modernity.

A large place in the United States is occupied by adventure novels, which are based on the development of the continent and the relationship of the first settlers with the indigenous population. The largest representatives this direction was James Fenimore Cooper, who wrote a lot and fascinatingly about the Indians and the clashes of American colonists with them, Mine Reed, whose novels masterfully combine love line and detective-adventure intrigue, and Jack London, who sang the courage and courage of the pioneers of the harsh lands of Canada and Alaska.

One of the most remarkable American 19th century is the outstanding satirist Mark Twain. His works such as "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" are read with equal interest by both young and adult readers.

Henry James lived in Europe for many years, but did not stop being an American writer. In his novels "Wings of the Dove", "The Golden Cup" and others, the writer showed naive and simple-minded Americans by nature, who often fall victim to the intrigues of insidious Europeans.

Of particular note in the American 19th century is the work of Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose anti-racist novel Uncle Tom's Cabin largely contributed to the liberation of blacks.

The first half of the 20th century could be called the American Renaissance. At this time, such wonderful authors as Theodore Dreiser, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway create their works. Dreiser's first novel, Sister Carrie, whose heroine achieves success at the cost of losing her best human qualities, at first seemed immoral to many. Based on a crime chronicle, the novel "An American Tragedy" turned into a story of the collapse of the "American dream".

The works of the king of the Jazz Age (a term coined by himself) Francis Scott Fitzgerald are largely based on autobiographical motifs. First of all, this refers to the magnificent novel Tender is the Night, where the writer told the story of his difficult and painful relationship with his wife Zelda. The collapse of the "American dream" Fitzgerald showed in famous novel"The Great Gatsby".

A tough and courageous perception of reality distinguishes creativity Nobel laureate Ernest Hemingway. Among the most outstanding works of the writer are the novels Farewell to Arms!, For Whom the Bell Tolls and the story The Old Man and the Sea.

1. Jerome Salinger - "The Catcher in the Rye"
A classic writer, a mystery writer, at the peak of his career, he announced his retirement from literature and settled away from worldly temptations in a remote American province. Salinger's only novel, The Catcher in the Rye, was a watershed in the history of world literature. Both the title of the novel and the name of its protagonist, Holden Caulfield, have become codes for many generations of young rebels.

2. Nell Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
The novel, first published in 1960, was a resounding success and immediately became a bestseller. This is not surprising: Harper Lee, having learned the lessons of Mark Twain, found her own style storytelling, which allowed her to show the world of adults through the eyes of a child, without simplifying or impoverishing it. The novel was awarded one of the most prestigious US literature prizes - the Pulitzer Prize, and was printed in millions of copies. It has been translated into dozens of languages around the world and continues to be reprinted to this day.

3. Jack Kerouac - "On the Road"
Jack Kerouac gave voice to a whole generation in literature, for his short life managed to write about 20 books of prose and poetry and became the most famous and controversial author of his time. Some branded him as a subverter of the foundations, others considered him a classic modern culture, but all the beatniks and hipsters learned to write from his books - to write not what you know, but what you see, firmly believing that the world itself will reveal its nature. It was the novel "On the Road" that brought Kerouac worldwide fame and became a classic of American literature.

4. Francis Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
The best novel by American writer Francis Scott Fitzgerald, a poignant story of eternal dreams and human tragedy. According to the author himself, “the novel is about how illusions are wasted, which give the world such brilliance that, having experienced this magic, a person becomes indifferent to the concept of true and false.” The dream, in whose captivity Jay Gatsby is, coming into direct contact with the ruthless reality, breaks and buries the hero who believed in it as the truth under its debris.

5. Margaret Mitchell - " gone With the Wind»
the great saga of civil war in the USA and about the fate of the wayward and ready to go over the heads of Scarlett O'Hara was first published 70 years ago and has not become outdated to this day. Gone with the Wind is the only novel by Margaret Mitchell for which she, a writer, emancipe and advocate for women's rights, won a Pulitzer Prize. This book is about how the love of life is more important than love; then, when the spurt to survival is successfully completed, love becomes preferable, but without love of life, she also dies.

6. Ernest Hemingway - "For Whom the Bell Tolls"
Full of tragedy is the story of a young American who arrived in Spain, engulfed in civil war.
A brilliant and sad book about war and love, true courage and self-sacrifice, moral duty and the enduring value of human life.

7. Ray Bradbury - Fahrenheit 451

"Sinlessness" became a real sensation last year: it is called the most scandalous and most Russian novel by Franzen. Reasoning about acute social problems, the totalitarian nature of the Internet, feminism and politics are intertwined with a deep, very personal history of one family.

The life of a young girl named Pip is a complete mess: she does not know her father, she cannot pay off her student debt, she does not know how to build relationships, she goes to boring work. But her life changes dramatically when she becomes an assistant to the hacker Andreas Wulff, who most of all loves to publicly reveal other people's secrets.

2. The Secret History, Donna Tartt

Richard Paypen reminisces about his boarding college days in Vermont, where he and a few of his comrades attended a boarding course for an eccentric professor of ancient culture. One trick of an elite circle of students ended in a murder that only at first glance went unpunished.

After the incident, other secrets of the heroes are revealed, which lead to new tragedies in their lives.

3. "American Psycho", Bret Easton Ellis

Most famous novel Ellis is already considered modern classics. Main character- Patrick Bateman, a handsome, wealthy and seemingly intelligent young man from Wall Street. But behind the good looks and expensive costumes lies greed, hatred and rage. At night, he tortures and kills people in the most sophisticated ways, without a system and without a plan.

4. "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer

A touching story from the face of a 9-year-old boy Oscar. His father died in one of the twin towers on September 11, 2001. Looking around his father's pantry, Oscar finds a vase, and in it is a small envelope with the inscription "Black" and a key inside. Encouraged and filled with curiosity, Oscar is ready to go around all the Blacks in New York to find the answer to the riddle. This is a story about overcoming a bereavement, New York after a disaster, and human kindness.

5. "It's Good to Be Quiet" by Stephen Chbosky

"The Catcher in the Rye" about modern teenagers - this is how critics dubbed the book by Stephen Chbosky, which sold a million copies and was filmed by the author himself.

Charlie is a typical quiet man, a silent observer of what is happening, goes into high school. After a recent nervous breakdown he shut himself up. To overcome inner feelings, he begins to write letters. Letters to a friend, an unknown person - the reader of this book. On the advice of his new comrade Pete, he tries to become "not a sponge, but a filter" - to live full life rather than watching her from the sidelines.

6. The Clock, Michael Cunningham

The story of a day in the life three women from different eras from the Pulitzer Prize winner. The fate of the British writer Virginia Woolf, the American housewife Laura from Los Angeles and the editor of the publishing house Clarissa Vaughan, at first glance, are connected only by a book - a novel " Mrs. Dalloway". But by the end it becomes clear that the lives and problems of the heroines, despite everything external differences, are the same.

7 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn

Nick and Amazing Amy - perfect couple. But on the day of the fifth anniversary, Amy disappears from the house - there are all traces of a kidnapping. The whole city goes in search of the missing person and sympathizes with Nick, until Amy's diary falls into the hands of the police, because of which her husband becomes the main suspect in the murder. The main intrigue of the novel is who in this situation turned out to be the real victim.

Roman Flynn attracts with a non-standard view of modern marriage: partners marry beautiful projections of each other and then are very surprised when a living person whom they do not know at all is discovered behind the invented image.

8. "Slaughterhouse Five, or the Children's Crusade" by Kurt Vonnegut

The hard military experience of the writer is reflected in this novel. Memories of the bombing in Dresden are shown through the eyes of the ridiculous timid soldier Billy Pilgrim - one of those foolish children who were thrown into a terrible war. But Vonnegut would not be himself if he had not introduced an element of fantasy into the novel: either due to post-traumatic stress disorder, or due to the intervention of aliens, Pilgrim learned to travel in time.

Despite the fantastic nature of what is happening, the message of the novel is quite real and clear: Vonnegut ridicules stereotypes about “real men” and demonstrates the senselessness of wars.

9. Beloved, Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison received Nobel Prize in Literature for bringing to life an important aspect of American reality in "her dreamy and poetic novels." And the novel "Beloved" was named by Time magazine one of the 100 best books in English.

The main character is the slave Seti, who, together with her children, escaped from cruel masters and stayed free for only 28 days. When the chase overtakes Sethe, she kills her daughter with her own hands - so that she does not know slavery and does not experience the same as her mother. The memory of the past and this terrible choice haunts Seti all her life.

10. A Song of Ice and Fire, George Martin

fantasy epic about magical world The Seven Kingdoms, where the struggle for the Iron Throne does not stop, while a terrible winter is approaching the entire continent. On this moment five novels out of a planned seven were published. The remaining two parts are waiting for both fans of the writer's work and fans of "" - a series based on the saga that breaks all popularity records.

At all recent years 5 I don't read much. You could even say I don't read at all. I never got used to electronic versions of books, and even more so reading from a smartphone, and there is no time for paper ones, and when there is a little time there is no book at hand. This is an Internet infection, because of it everything.

As a result of all this, he was generally lost in his favorite topic - science fiction and fantasy. But in principle, it might even be read something else.

Without being attached to the genre, I met a small list of popular now American writers. Who read what?

1. "Sinlessness" by Jonathan Franzen

"Sinlessness" became a real sensation last year: it is called the most scandalous and most Russian novel by Franzen. Reflections on acute social problems, the totalitarian nature of the Internet, feminism and politics are intertwined with a deep, very personal story of one family.

2. The Secret History, Donna Tartt

Richard Papen reminisces about his student years at a boarding college in Vermont: he and a few of his comrades attended a boarding course for an eccentric professor of ancient culture. One trick of an elite circle of students ended in a murder that only at first glance went unpunished.

After the incident, other secrets of the heroes are revealed, which lead to new tragedies in their lives.

3. "American Psycho", Bret Easton Ellis

Ellis' most famous novel is already considered a modern classic. The protagonist is Patrick Bateman, a handsome, wealthy and apparently intelligent young man from Wall Street. But behind the good looks and expensive costumes lies greed, hatred and rage. At night, he tortures and kills people in the most sophisticated ways, without a system and without a plan.

4. "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer

5. "It's Good to Be Quiet" by Stephen Chbosky

"The Catcher in the Rye" about modern teenagers - this is how critics dubbed the book by Stephen Chbosky, which sold a million copies and was filmed by the author himself.

Charlie - a typical quiet, silent observer of what is happening, goes to high school. After a recent nervous breakdown, he withdrew into himself. To overcome inner feelings, he begins to write letters. Letters to a friend, an unknown person - the reader of this book. On the advice of his new friend Pete, he tries to become "not a sponge, but a filter" - to live life to the fullest, and not to watch it from the side.

6. The Clock, Michael Cunningham

History of one day life of three women from different eras from the Pulitzer Prize winner. The fate of the British writer Virginia Woolf, the American housewife Laura from Los Angeles and the editor of the publishing house Clarissa Vaughan, at first glance, are connected only by a book - the novel Mrs. Dalloway. But by the end it becomes clear that the lives and problems of the heroines, despite all the external differences, are the same.

7 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn

Nick and Amazing Amy are the perfect couple. But on the day of the fifth anniversary, Amy disappears from the house - there are all traces of the kidnapping. The whole city goes in search of the missing person and sympathizes with Nick, until Amy's diary falls into the hands of the police, because of which her husband becomes the main suspect in the murder. The main intrigue of the novel is who in this situation turned out to be the real victim.

8. "Slaughterhouse Five, or the Children's Crusade" by Kurt Vonnegut

Despite the fantastic nature of what is happening, the message of the novel is quite real and clear: Vonnegut ridicules stereotypes about “real men” and demonstrates the senselessness of wars.

9. Beloved, Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison received the Nobel Prize in Literature for bringing to life an important aspect of American reality in "her dreamy and poetic novels." And the novel "Beloved" was named one of the 100 best books in the English language by Time magazine.

The main character is the slave Sethy, who, together with her children, escaped from cruel masters and stayed free for only 28 days. When the chase overtakes Sethe, she kills her daughter with her own hands - so that she does not know slavery and does not experience the same as her mother. The memory of the past and this terrible choice haunts Seti all her life.

10. A Song of Ice and Fire, George Martin

A fantasy epic about the magical world of the Seven Kingdoms, where the struggle for the Iron Throne does not stop, while a terrible winter approaches the entire continent. So far, five novels out of a planned seven have been published. The remaining two parts are waiting for both fans of the writer's work and fans of the Game of Thrones, a series based on the saga that breaks all popularity records.

What are you anyway Lately interesting reading?

sources

(25.09.1987 – 06.07.1962)

Known as the master of the new American prose of the twentieth century. Originally from New Albany, Mississippi. William received an incomplete secondary education and took special courses at the University of pc. Mississippi. He served in the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War I.

William Faulkner's most successful book is The Sound and the Fury. He was also famous for his works: “Absalom, Absalom!”, “Light in August”, “Sanctuary”, “When I was dying”, “Wild Palms”. The novels "Parable" and "The Kidnappers" were awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

Louis Lamour

(22.03.1908 – 10.06.1988)

Born in Jamestown (North Dakota) in the family of a veterinarian. From childhood he loved to read. literary path began from poems and stories that he published in magazines. Changed many jobs: animal driver, boxer, lumberjack, sailor, gold digger.

Lamour is known as an excellent creator of westerns. The first of these is "The Town No Guns Could Tame" (1940). He often published books under various pseudonyms (Tex Burns, Jim Mayo).

Lamour's short story "The Gift of Cochise", which he later turned into the novel "Hondo", is very popular. A film of the same name was based on this novel. Other successful books by Louis Lamour: The Quick and the Dead, The Devil with a Revolver, The Kiowa Trail, Sitka.

Francis Scott Fitzgerald

(24.09.1896 – 21.12.1940)

He was born in Saint Paul (Minnesota) in a wealthy Irish family. Studied at Saint Paul Academy, Newman School, Princeton University. I already started writing there. He married Zelda Sayre, with whom he held lavish receptions and parties.

He was the author of famous magazines, wrote stories, scripts in Hollywood. Fitzgerald's first book, This Side of Paradise (1920), was a great success. In 1922, he wrote the novel Beautiful but Doomed, and in 1925, The Great Gatsby, which was recognized by critics as a masterpiece of contemporary American literature.

Fitzgerald's works are also special in that they perfectly convey the atmosphere of the American "Jazz Age" of the 1920s (the term was introduced by the writer himself).

Harold Robbins

(21.05.1916 – 14.10.1997)

Real name is Francis Kane. Originally from New York. Some sources say that Francis grew up in an orphanage. Mastered different professions, but managed to get rich for a short while trading in sugar. After the ruin, he worked at Universal.

The first book, Never Love a Traveler, was banned in several American states, came out in 1948. Glory to Robbins brought the action-packed nature of his works. Most famous books Francis Cain: The Carpetbaggers, A Rock for Danny Fisher, Sin City, 79 Park Avenue.

Harold Robbins became literary example For three generations American writers, and films have been made based on many of his novels.

Stephen King

Received the nickname "King of Horror" for amazing works in the genres of horror, mysticism, science fiction, fantasy.

Born in Portlad (Maine) in the family of a merchant seaman. Stephen has been fond of mystical comics since childhood, he began writing at school. Works as a teacher, actor. Many of his books have become international bestsellers, and some of his works have been filmed.

Such novels by Stephen King as "Mr. Mercedes", "11/22/63", "Renaissance", "Under the Dome", "Dreamcatcher", "Land of Joy", the epic "" are widely known. Now, being an invalid, he continues to write.

Sydney Sheldon

(11.02.1917 – 30.01.2007)

Born in Chicago (pc. Illinois). He has been writing poetry since childhood. He worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood, wrote musicals for the Broadway theater. Sidney Sheldon's first creation, Unmask (1970), was a huge success and earned the author an Edgar Allan Poe Award.

The writer appeared in the Guinness Book of Records for the number of translations of his works and received a nominal star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Mark Twain

(30.11.1835 – 21.04.1910)

Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) is an American writer and journalist. Originally from Florida (pc. Missouri).

From the age of 12, Samuel worked as a typesetter and created his own articles. Having reached the age of majority, he goes on a journey, reads a lot and works as a pilot's assistant. He was a Confederate and worked in the mines, where he began to compose stories.

He signed all his works with the pseudonym Mark Twain. Clemens wrote famous book under the title "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", the story "The Prince and the Pauper", the novel "A Connecticut Yankee in the Court of King Arthur", and after opening his own publishing house, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, "Memoirs" and others are published brilliant works a recognized classic of the 19th century, a master of adventure literature.

Ernest Hemingway

(21.07.1899 – 02.07.1961)

World famous writer and journalist. Born in Oak Park (Illinois) in the family of a doctor. From an early age he was fond of sports, fishing, hunting and literature. After leaving school, he worked as a reporter.

Hemingway was not accepted into the army, but he voluntarily took part in the First World War, where he was seriously wounded. His first book is Three Stories and Ten Poems. The writer distinguished himself by his specific abilities to create in the style of realism and existentialism.

His life full of travels and adventures was reflected in many famous works: "The Old Man and the Sea", "The Snows of Kilimanjaro", "Farewell to Arms!" and others. In 1954, Ernest Hemingway deservedly received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Daniela Steel

Master of romance novels. Born in New York in a well-to-do family. Received education in French school Design and New York University.

Worked as a copywriter and PR specialist. The first novel "The House", conceived in his student years, was published only in 1973.

Almost all further books by Danielle Steel became bestsellers. Most books read novels are considered to be writers: “His Bright Light”, “Family Ties”, “Night of Magic”, “Forbidden Love”, “Diamond Bracelet”, “Voyage”.

A considerable amount. Daniela Steele is the proud owner of the French Legion of Honor.