Nominate your best authors by language

[Surfah]

Originally Posted by il Padrino Ute

Love his stuff, but I prefer writers like Mark Twain and James Fennimore Cooper.

Twain is great. Ironic that you liked both, since Twain often ripped Cooper and his indians and that they have two very different perspectives.

[ute4ever]

This morning I had a 4-hour flight to Boise (with layover in SLC) and reread The Great Gatsby for fun. It was my first since eleventh grade. I nominate Fitzgerald for early 20th century, old sport.

Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.

Beautiful.

[il Padrino Ute]

Originally Posted by surfah33

Twain is great. Ironic that you liked both, since Twain often ripped Cooper and his indians and that they have two very different perspectives.

I've heard that Twain didn't much like Cooper, though I'll admit I don't know why. Of course, Twain wasn't too fond of Mormons either, but I won't hold that against him.

I like them both because I see their work for what I think it is: Cooper is much more descriptive and Twain is more clever, but both tell a heck of a story.

[RockyBalboa]

I'm probably too dumb to participate in this but I'll put out one of my favorites.

English: David McCullough

[creekster]

One of my favorite authors (although not THE best in the english language) is Kurt Vonnegut.

So it goes.

Hugo's Les Miserable is fabulous, although I am not as enamored of his other works.

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

English: Book of Mormon

French: French translation of Book of Mormon

German: German translation of Book of Mormon

Chinese: Chinese translation of Book of Mormon

Japanese: Japanese translation of Book of Mormon

Russian: Russian translation of Book of Mormon

Spanish: Spanishtranslation of Book of Mormon

Italian: Italian translation of Book of Mormon

that's the easiest question you have ever asked.

I'm sure Waters is smarter than this. He likes to be provocative. But he raises an interesting question: How does the Book of Mormon rate as a work of literature? Myself, I have some definite views on the subject. What are any of yours? Seems to me this is not a question without relevancy, given how many people purport to found their faith at least in part on an assertion that "no one could have written the Book of Mormon," or a variant, "A rube like Joseph Smith couldn't have written the Book of Mormon" (my observation is that people who say these things invariably haven't read many books themselves, so their data base for comparison is sparse).

By the way, my own view is that in terms of pure literary merit the Old Testament towers over the restof the "standard works." I was left with this strong impression when I read the four standard works straight through, and I think most scholars agree with this assessment, particularly with regard to the Pentateuch, or first five books of the OT.

[Mormon Red Death]

Why do think the Old testaments "Towers" over the rest of the standard works? I would like to hear your thoughts

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by Mormon Red Death

Why do think the Old testaments "Towers" over the rest of the standard works? I would like to hear your thoughts

Of course my opinion is to a large extent founded on feeling and is intensely subjective. But I'll try to make some objective comments.

The Old Testament is painted on a broader canvas than any of the other works. This appeals to my personal taste in literature. (It is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum form the modern short story about suburban angst, etc.) There are the large scale battle scenes, miracles, etc. Also, it tells the entire story--admittedly gilded by myth, but the mythical element imparts its own truth in a way that pure facts cannot--of the western world during a time for which we have very little other history, and is incomparable in this respect.

The Old Testament is also fraught with Shakespearean phychological and philosphical drama, depth, ambiguity and nuance where, in terms of the stories they tell, the other works tend to tilt more toward melodrama (particularly the B of M). Take for example the story of the Rebekah/Jacob/Esau triangle; how do you explain that story? Also, Job's famous words, "Naked I came into this world, and naked shall I go." These little stories were the source of Shakespeare's, Dostoyevski's, Melville's, etc. collective inspiration and genius. I see their works as almost a common text with the OT.

Then there is the voice. Like the Illiad, the OT to me breathes the autentic voice of our forefathers and their tribalism. I love the savage tribalism, the bleak, pitiless world it evokes, etc. Somehow this seems to me a more authentic representation of the subject matter.

Finally, there's something scary and Ahab like about the OT's protagonist, Jehovah, which I see as pure genius and to me deeply satisfying. He's crusty, emotional, and pure eloquence. Really he's an altogether different persona and personality than Jesus of the NT.

This is not to say that I don't think the NT, particularly in the Gospels and Revelations, has many sublime parts.

This is my inarticulate opinion, anyway.

[SeattleUte]

Message deleted.

[MikeWaters]

OT has some very tedious passages IMO. On the other hand it has some of the coolest stuff too. Most human, most flawed--the legends of a people. They don't aren't trying to sell you their religion so much.

My favorite is probably the New Testament--the gospels and Acts. Paul I can do without.

Hard for me to say about the BoM. I read most books once. At most, I may read a book twice. I read the BoM multiple times on my mission, and sort of burned out on it. I can't vouch too much for the literary style, but there does seem to be an earnestness and directness in the BoM that the others don't have. That's my opinion at least.

Of course the greatest religious writing is yet to be produced. It will be the Mormon who is like unto Shakespeare and Milton. I'll let you know if I ever get around to it.