Which Writer From The Past Would You Bring Back To Right About The Present? (5/25/25)

[Marc]

If you could bring a writer from the past back to life to write about today's world, which writer would that be?

[Whitney]

I don't have a good answer, but the question made me think of the Ray Bradbury story "Forever and the Earth", which is about using time travel to bring Thomas Wolfe forward to write about space travel, since he's the only one the main character believes can do it justice. As I recall, the idea may have been better than the execution on this one.

[Stacia]

H. L. Mencken to write about today's US political scene.

[Bobby]

Oh man, easy. Hunter S. Thompson when he was on top of the game to create something similar to Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail. 🕶️🚬❄️

[Henk]

Ursula K. le Guin comes to mind, she is so thoughtful and humane and engaged with the present through depicting the future so imaginatively. I wonder if she would still depict good winning when using the current times as a basis…

[Carl]

Oh, since I've just mentioned this author and I truly believe he'd write fantastic novels I would say Jose Saramago. Nobody writes about the human condition as he did.

[Alwynne]

I think I'd go for someone who's good at broad sweep narratives like Tolstoy or Dickens or more forensic because of their journalistic background like Vasily Grossman.

[Brett]

The most obvious person is George Orwell (and some are saying he's already written about society now!) but I'd also think that James Baldwin would have some penetrating words to hurl.

[Brett]

Stacia wrote: "H. L. Mencken to write about today's US political scene."

That's a damn good call.

[Lesley]

Although I haven’t read any Kafka for decades, I have found myself increasingly thinking “ah, so that’s what he meant” over the past few years.
An absurdist writer for absurdist times.

[Sarah]

Lesley wrote: "Although I haven’t read any Kafka for decades, I have found myself increasingly thinking “ah, so that’s what he meant” over the past few years.
An absurdist writer for absurdist times."

I'm with you, Lesley! I finally got around to reading with Selected Stories. Was able to visit the Kafka museum in Prague and met Mark Harman at the Charleston Literary Festival last fall. Tour guides in Prague called him "strange" but there were appreciative students in attendance at the festival. Kafka Centenary celebrated 2024. Now I look for authors who have been influenced by Kafka, e.g. City of Night Birds, David Lynch films.

[Lesley]

I’d enjoy reading Jane Austen’s insights on the ubiquity of social media.

[Hester]

great comments . I'd like to ask Elizabeth Gaskell to come back to Manchester and write about the gig economy .