Literary 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Novelists, Playwrights and Poets of All Time

by Daniel S. Burt

Here, complete, for the first time, is a ranking of the 100 most influential literary artists of all time, the writers who produced what Matthew Arnold termed "the best that is known and thought in the world". This volume ranks the world's greatest poets, novelists, and dramatists from Shakespeare (1), Dante (2), and Homer (3), to Lady Murasaki (12), Franz Kafka (31), Gabriel Garcia Marquez (78), Ralph Ellison (86), and Oscar Wilde (100). Different from most scholarly treatments, The Literary 100 dares to look at literature comprehensively across genres and the entire expanse of western and non-western literary history through an exploration of the lives and works of the world's most significant and original artistic geniuses.Every portrait distills the essence of each writer and the personal and artistic development that brought forth unique visions of the world and human experience. The portraits, filled with details of each writer's life, also place the writer in the context of his or her time and the literary culture which he or she played a significant role in defining, transcending, or modifying.

This unique volume will serve as a helpful reference for the general reader and the student of literature. It offers the pleasure of encountering familiar favorites and discovering important writers who may be new to the reader. Like all its predecessors in the Citadel "100" series, The Literary 100 is bound to generate controversy as the reader compares his personal rankings with the author's selections. No other figures have so shaped our view of the world or given so much pleasure over the centuries as those collected in The Literary 100. Readers are sure to have their sense ofliterary boundaries challenged and expanded by a growing appreciation of the remarkable literary genius exhibited in these pages.

Genres: Books About Books, Nonfiction, Reference, Biography, Literature, Literary Criticism

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1999

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Any ranking of the world's best authors over the course of history is bound to fail, of course.

It is bound to be biased as well.

But this is a caricature of a bias. Out of 125 writers chosen from the beginning of literature until now, 50% come from the English speaking world. That is ridiculous. Even more ridiculous than the 10% women, or the general euro-centrism beside the English Literature Empire.

Even the hugely criticised distribution of the Nobel Prize in Literature is less lopsided, and it has the excuse of having been created over a century of massive European bias, whereas the author of this ranking composes his random list from the perspective of our global world of today.

My first impression was that he had made a list of the best authors writing in English, and had then attempted to steal the biggest names of other cultures in order to decorate it further: Dante, Homer, Goethe as part of the English canon.

As a ranking, it is a joke. As a short introduction to the authors chosen, it is quite well-written and informative.

Would not recommend spending money on it, though. I found it in a thrift store.

[Urangoo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Үе үеийн сонгодог зохилчид гээд маш их хүлээлттэй авсан ном. Санаанд нэг их хүрсэнгүй ээ. Зохиолч нь илүү жүжгийн зохиолчдод, тэгээд Англичуудад төвлөрдөг хүн бололтой.

1-р дэвтрийг уншиж дуусаад, 2 дахийг даруй эхлүүлэхгүй хойш нь тавиаар шийдэв. Уран зохиол судлаач гэсэн аятай бичлэг нь ч хүндхэн юм. Орчуулга бас сайнгүй. Ёстой хичээл, судалгааны шаардлагаар л, эсвэл бүр үнэхээр уран зохиолын шүтэн бишрэгч л унших ном байна.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this soon after making the decision of being a Lit major, and it become the introduction to a good number of the "canonical" writers I'd later come to know more much intimately through study and exposure. Still turn to it occasionally as a reference guide for a brief but eloquent overview of an author's body of work.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An well written book with a biographical sketch of major authors in history from Shakespeare, Dante, Dickens, etc. A great resource.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good reference material for teachers or students of a literature course.

[Garret Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book just made my reading queue about 300 books longer. I disagreed with some of the picks, but learned a ton about some important thinkers and writers.