Which do you like better? Did one introduce you to great writing? Who would win in a fight? Who would you pick if you could only have one?

Thank god we have both.

Even though I think he has a lower percentage of great work, and he has a rather unhealthy perception of women, I pick Hemingway.

Faulkner.

Neither are as great as Melville, James and Hawthorne, though, if you're talking about American novelists.

Hemingway is an easier read for me than Faulkner.

I find Faulkner harder to read than James.

Hawthorne and James were great writers; the moral strenuousness in their approach means that the decisions made by their characters are of great interest to adult readers.

Melville was also a great writer.

I'm voting for Hemingway even though I recently found the experience of reading Islands in the Stream a dispiriting one.

It would be hard to choose between these two purely as sources of reading pleasure, but Faulkner is definitely the superior author in terms of his worth to American literature.

And no matter what Nerbly says, he is James' and Hawthorne's superior as well. Hawthorne...bleh. Like being frozen to death by a book.

Ty Webb wrote:It would be hard to choose between these two purely as sources of reading pleasure, but Faulkner is definitely the superior author in terms of his worth to American literature.

And no matter what Nerbly says, he is James' and Hawthorne's superior as well. Hawthorne...bleh. Like being frozen to death by a book.

What you said, although I don't hate Hawthorne. Melville and Faulkner are two of our country's greatest.

Faulkner has balls.

Ike

i went with Faulkner but that's a TOUGH fucking one...i love Hemingway a whole bunch...at another time i would have easily picked him...the fact that i'm reading Faulkner right at this very moment (well, not this VERY moment) probably helped the decision here...but it's a very close one for me...

Faulkner without even breaking a sweat.

Wow.

I'm surprised anyone voted Hemingway.

I don't say that to denigrate anyone's opinion, but Hemingway's place in the literary canon was at an all-time low when I entered grad school in the late 90's.

I far prefer reading Faulkner, but I would rather hang out with Hemingway.

tinycorkscrew wrote:I don't say that to denigrate anyone's opinion, but Hemingway's place in the literary canon was at an all-time low when I entered grad school in the late 90's.

Yep. I was in grad school in the mid-90s and there was very little talk of Hemingway. I got lucky though. One of the assistant deans was a fairly well known (in academic circles) Hemingway expert and he still taught a very small, intensive seminar on Papa in his office. It was the best way to learn Hemingway - equal amounts of careful attention, intimate biographical detail, and casual discussion.

The dean also happened to be the father of White Zombie's bassist, and I wound up talking to him about Beavis and Butthead.