[Gruntle2213]

I don't know if this is the right forum to be posting this but considering I am reading Reaper's Gale right now and it made me think of this I found it appropriate. I was just wondering how people would rate Erikson's work compared to the works of Pynchon, David Foster Wallace, Dom Delillo, Cormac Mccarthy etc etc....whom I all consider the literary heavyweights of our time. I mean I just finished Infinite Jest and it absolutely floored me. But I'm reading RG right now and its almost having the same effect. I know that Erikson writes epic fantasy and some people would consider it heresy for me to even place him in the same category as those authors but I honestly believe that what Erikson is doing right now is a masterpiece not just in fantasy but in literature itself. Its just my opinion but I was wondering if anyone would agree.

This post has been edited by Gruntle2213: 14 July 2009 - 07:58 AM

[Silencer]

XD

You're on the Malazan fan-forum! Obviously not everyone here worships SE, but I think you'll find the general consensus is that we all think Erikson is an awesome writer. Maybe not the best, or perhaps not in the wider literary arena (although for me, I do consider him as one of the best authors I've ever had the pleasure of reading), but we all post here for a reason.

[Aptorian]

Well, having never heard of any of the authors you list, I can't say how he compares. But I will say that Erikson is probably the most talented author I remember reading.

[Cold Iron]

For those of us not in the know:

Quote

Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. (born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist based in New York City, noted for his dense and complex works of fiction. Hailing from Long Island, Pynchon spent two years in the United States Navy and earned an English degree from Cornell University. After publishing several short stories in the late 1950s and early 1960s, he began composing the novels for which he is best known: V. (1963), The Crying of Lot 49 (1966), Gravity's Rainbow (1973), Vineland (1990), Mason & Dixon (1997), Against the Day (2006) and Inherent Vice (2009).

Pynchon is a MacArthur Fellow and a recipient of the National Book Award, and is regularly cited as a contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Both his fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, styles and themes, including (but not limited to) the fields of history, science, human sexuality, and mathematics. Pynchon is also known for his avoidance of personal publicity: very few photographs of him have ever been published, and rumors about his location and identity have been circulated since the 1960s.

Quote

David Foster Wallace (February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008) was an American author of novels, essays and short-stories, and a professor at Pomona College in Claremont, California. He was best known for his 1996 novel Infinite Jest,[2][3] which Time included in its All-Time 100 Greatest Novels list (covering the period 1923–2006).[4]

Los Angeles Times book editor David Ulin called Wallace "one of the most influential and innovative writers of the last 20 years."[2]

Quote

Don DeLillo (born November 20, 1936) is an American author whose work paints a detailed portrait of American life in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. He currently lives near New York City.

Quote

Cormac McCarthy, born Charles McCarthy[1] (born July 20, 1933), is an American novelist and playwright. He has written ten novels in the Southern Gothic, western, and post-apocalyptic genres, and has also written plays and screenplays. He received the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for The Road, and his 2005 novel No Country for Old Men was adapted as a 2007 film of the same name, which won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. He received a National Book Award in 1992 for All the Pretty Horses.

His earlier Blood Meridian (1985) was among Time Magazine's poll of 100 best English-language books published between 1923 and 2005[2] and he placed joint runner-up for a similar title in a poll taken in 2006 by The New York Times of the best American fiction published in the last 25 years.[3] Literary critic Harold Bloom named him as one of the four major American novelists of his time, along with Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo and Philip Roth. He is frequently compared by modern reviewers to William Faulkner.

Looks like an Americocentric list...

[amphibian]

Cold Iron, on Jul 14 2009, 08:12 AM, said:

Looks like an Americocentric list...

It's also a brief list of some of the greatest writers in the English language. Not just of the last thirty years. (I believe Gene Wolfe, Larry McMurtry and Salman Rushdie belong on that list, along with a few others, but that's a different topic.)

In my opinion, Erikson doesn't quite stack up alongside them (note: this is NOT a dissing of SF or the area in which he chooses to write). I'd consider him one level lower, because there are more moments that go "clunk" in his work and it's taking him much longer to say what he wants to say than it took any of the others on the original list. Right now, I'd consider him at the level of or slightly above that of Neil Gaiman - despite the latter's greater success.

[Gruntle2213]

I agree it is an american centric list but it just happens that those people are my favorite authors. It has nothing to do with being american or non-american

[Gruntle2213]

For anyone who hasn't heard of those authors above and hasn't read of their stuff and is interested check out these books

Don Delillo - Underworld, White Noise
Cormac Mccathy - Blood Meridian, No country for old men, The Road
David Foster Wallace - Infinite Jest
Thomas Pynchon - Gravity's Rainbow, V, Mason Dixon, Against the Day

[Abalieno]

David Foster Wallace is one of my favorite writers. I've also read DeLillo and some of Pynchon, McCarthy, Roth etc...

The fact that I love so much Erikson means something. I consider him the best in the genre who also tries to have some literary ambitions.

For example Martin is an excellent narrator, but the writing itself is nothing original or daring or unforgettable. Erikson experiments so much more with structures and points of view. Challenges the reader in various ways. And if you read the novellas you know how far he can go.

[RangerSG]

amphibian, on Jul 14 2009, 11:45 AM, said:

Cold Iron, on Jul 14 2009, 08:12 AM, said:

Looks like an Americocentric list...

It's also a brief list of some of the greatest writers in the English language. Not just of the last thirty years. (I believe Gene Wolfe, Larry McMurtry and Salman Rushdie belong on that list, along with a few others, but that's a different topic.)

In my opinion, Erikson doesn't quite stack up alongside them (note: this is NOT a dissing of SF or the area in which he chooses to write). I'd consider him one level lower, because there are more moments that go "clunk" in his work and it's taking him much longer to say what he wants to say than it took any of the others on the original list. Right now, I'd consider him at the level of or slightly above that of Neil Gaiman - despite the latter's greater success.

I'd say Gene Wolfe has plenty of moments that go "clunk" too. And I consider SE superior to him.

[Icarium Kalam]

I've never read anyone as good as Erikson. Now that might not say much for me but he is defiantly top in my book.

[Night Hawk]

Gruntle2213, on Jul 14 2009, 03:47 AM, said:

I don't know if this is the right forum to be posting this but considering I am reading Reaper's Gale right now and it made me think of this I found it appropriate. I was just wondering how people would rate Erikson's work compared to the works of Pynchon, David Foster Wallace, Dom Delillo, Cormac Mccarthy etc etc....whom I all consider the literary heavyweights of our time. I mean I just finished Infinite Jest and it absolutely floored me. But I'm reading RG right now and its almost having the same effect. I know that Erikson writes epic fantasy and some people would consider it heresy for me to even place him in the same category as those authors but I honestly believe that what Erikson is doing right now is a masterpiece not just in fantasy but in literature itself. Its just my opinion but I was wondering if anyone would agree.

I don't know any of those names... I've become a SE hermit these past few years... but if RG made you feel that way, wait til you start re-reading the whole series... I mean damn, talk about getting floored.

[amphibian]

Icarium Kalam, on Jul 14 2009, 07:02 PM, said:

I've never read anyone as good as Erikson. Now that might not say much for me but he is defiantly top in my book.

I bet if someone said this or the first post to Erikson he'd be a) immensely honored and proud of the comparison and disagreeing with it. Read more, young'un. Erikson's very good and superbly entertaining, but he's not the best writer out there in the world's history.

RangerSG, on Jul 14 2009, 06:30 PM, said:

I'd say Gene Wolfe has plenty of moments that go "clunk" too. And I consider SE superior to him.

I have yet to get my hands on the Baluchelain & Broach books. That's the only (currently released) major work of either author I've not read.

Erikson tackles a far greater scope of story in TMBotF, while Wolfe builds more and deeper layers within the personal narratives he writes. To me, Wolfe's writing is on a higher level than Erikson's (and most authors dead or alive too). The Wizard Knight is dumbfounding in its total and complex redefinition of the medieval knight genre. The Solar cycles are some of the most difficult, yet rewarding books I've ever read. The Latro books are the movies Memento, 300 and the Egyptian first half of The Ten Commandments bound together in a much more sinister, yet moving story. I didn't like Dr. Island/Dr. Death and his other smaller works though.

[D'rek]

amphibian, on Jul 14 2009, 08:38 PM, said:

Icarium Kalam, on Jul 14 2009, 07:02 PM, said:

I've never read anyone as good as Erikson. Now that might not say much for me but he is defiantly top in my book.

I bet if someone said this or the first post to Erikson he'd be a) immensely honored and proud of the comparison and disagreeing with it. Read more, young'un. Erikson's very good and superbly entertaining, but he's not the best writer out there in the world's history.

Yet.

[Icarium Kalam]

i suppose so, yet I think its the history that make his world building more impressive than anyone i have ever read.

[Ain't_It_Just_]

Icarium Kalam, on Jul 15 2009, 09:02 AM, said:

I've never read anyone as good as Erikson. Now that might not say much for me but he is defiantly top in my book.

I'd have to agree, but I can't really talk.....I haven't read anything like Stephen Donaldson and stuff like that.

[Excellence]

The fact that I have not heard of those names and widely read as I am means they cannot be that exemplar.

[Gruntle2213]

Excellence, on Jul 15 2009, 10:11 AM, said:

The fact that I have not heard of those names and widely read as I am means they cannot be that exemplar.

Im sorry but that also means you are not widely read as you thought you were because those authors are the titans of literature. Maybe you should do your research or maybe read something other than fantasy.

[Aptorian]

Knock knock
Who's there?
It's a joke!
It's a joke who?
Sigh...

[Gruntle2213]

Oops well sorry I didn't get the joke, maybe you should work on that too. That was my joke so don't get mad. Im not that funny either.

This post has been edited by Gruntle2213: 15 July 2009 - 08:42 PM

[Aptorian]

Generally when people put a smily behind a statement it is implied that you shouldn't take the reply entirely serious

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 15 July 2009 - 08:45 PM