RARA-AVIS: Great Writers

From: Mark D. Nevins ( nevins_mark@yahoo.com)
Date: 09 Oct 2007


Charlie to Mark:
>> Gotta ask: who are the other two?
>
>> Mark
>
> Jim Thompson and Thomas Hardy. Always open to new candidates though!
>
> I'd be interested to hear who your (and others' here) top 3 are.
> Interesting from a genre POV.

For the record, I'd cast a vote for Hardy as one of the greatest English prose stylists ever. I don't always go for his peculiar melodrama (e.g., on the topic of fate), but man can he write sentences.

I'd offer up Julian Barnes as one of the greatest living prose stylists. I've not (yet) read his "Patrick Cavanaugh" crime books--any opinions?

I've only read about half of Willeford's stuff--I'm saving a lot of it to savor--but he's a fantastic writer, and one who truly "rises above" any "genre" tag.

Mark Nevins



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