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Simply the Best – Britains Best Writers since 1945?

Jan 10th, 2008
by gav.

I’m taking a leaf out of Tales of the Reading Room and having a look at a new list from The Times

Before I do that though here is a few words of introduction (please do read the rest):

Erica Wagner introduces The Times list of the Greatest British Writers Since 1945 – Times Online
Happy new year! What better way to start the year, we thought, than with an argument? Yes, I know that we here in Books aren’t usually thought of as pugnacious, but when we decided to present you — as our first offering for 2008 — with a ranking of whom we consider the best postwar British writers, we knew that at least some of you would surely be cross about something.

So really it’s more a jumping off point for discussion. It’s based on the biases of those compiling it just like competition prizes.

The 50 greatest British writers since 1945 – Times Online
1. Philip Larkin (not a good start)
2. George Orwell (I’ve half read 1984 does that count?)
3. William Golding (Never fancied children running around an island!)
4. Ted Hughes (his collection Crow is one of my all time faves)
5. Doris Lessing (I’m really should)
6. J. R. R. Tolkien (The Hobbit is much better than LOTR but there is no denying his influence)
7. V. S. Naipaul (Not For Me)
 8. Muriel Spark (I Really Should)
9. Kingsley Amis (NTM)
10. Angela Carter (wonderful, absolutely amazing)
11. C. S. Lewis (loved the BBC adaptations but didn’t get into the novels)
12. Iris Murdoch (IRS)
13. Salman Rushdie (The Satanic Verses is ready and waiting)
14. Ian Fleming (what can you say he invented James Bond!)
15. Jan Morris (who?)
16. Roald Dahl (an amazing childrens writer)
17. Anthony Burgess (he’s ringing a bell)
18. Mervyn Peake (I need to start on page 1 and keep reading)
19. Martin Amis (meh)
20. Anthony Powell (who?)
21. Alan Sillitoe (who?)
22. John Le Carré (I should try him)
23. Penelope Fitzgerald (who?)
24. Philippa Pearce (who?)
25. Barbara Pym (who?)
26. Beryl Bainbridge (maybe)
27. J. G. Ballard (not sure what do read if I did?)
28. Alan Garner(I was forced to analyse The Owl Service and it killed any joy I had)
29. Alasdair Gray (who?)
30. John Fowles(who?)
31. Derek Walcott(one of my favourite poets but is someone born in St. Lucia British?)
32. Kazuo Ishiguro (NFM)
33. Anita Brookner (who?)
34. A. S. Byatt (NFM)
35. Ian McEwan (meh!)
36. Geoffrey Hill (IRS)
37. Hanif Kureishi (the screening of The Buddha of Suburbia caused a bit of stir but I’ve not read him)
38. Iain Banks (I didn’t really enjoy his first sci-fi novel but always willing to try again. Any suggestions?)
39. George Mackay Brown (again, who?)
40. A. J. P. Taylor (again, who?)
41. Isaiah Berlin (again, who?)
42. J. K. Rowling (hmmm alrite as she’s done more for the English language than anyone but Shakespeare)
43. Philip Pullman (tired him and didn’t like Northern Lights/Golden Compass)
44. Julian Barnes (NTM)
45. Colin Thubron (who?)
46. Bruce Chatwin (IRS)
47. Alice Oswald(IRS)
48. Benjamin Zephaniah (Not my kind of poet but he does a lot)
49. Rosemary Sutcliff (who?)
50. Michael Moorcock (I want to but where the heck to start?)

Well, I think this proves that this list isn’t my list but it does contain a few interesting names. I’d liked to have scene people like Arthur C Clarke, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Catherine Fisher or even Jaqualine Wilson mentioned. And I’m sure I could grab a few more poets off the shelves. But then this is a literary list, whatever literary means.

Anyone you think should have got a shout? What about an American list, who should be on that? Or writers in translation?

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  • gav
    Sorry for taking a couple of days to comment.

    @Rob, I've never heard of Glen Duncan but now I think I've got to bring read him. Looks right up my street! I, Lucifer!

    @Jem - The Fifth Child sounds goood!

    @ Litlove (if i can call you that ;) I'm glad you took the time to comment as it was, as you say, such an mix of masters and those that I'm indifferent to.

    @ Chris, I think I've seen Animal Farm the cartoon too many times to be able to now read it. It's the same with Hitchhikers Guide. I've listened to the radio play and watch the BBC series a lot and can't get the same feeling from the books. I'm better at watching films of books i've read but once I've seen it I loose interest in reading it. Or is that just me?

    So has anyone actually read Mr Banks??? :)
  • gav
    Sorry for taking a couple of days to comment.

    @Rob, I've never heard of Glen Duncan but now I think I've got to bring read him. Looks right up my street! I, Lucifer!

    @Jem - The Fifth Child sounds goood!

    @ Litlove (if i can call you that ;) I'm glad you took the time to comment as it was, as you say, such an mix of masters and those that I'm indifferent to.

    @ Chris, I think I've seen Animal Farm the cartoon too many times to be able to now read it. It's the same with Hitchhikers Guide. I've listened to the radio play and watch the BBC series a lot and can't get the same feeling from the books. I'm better at watching films of books i've read but once I've seen it I loose interest in reading it. Or is that just me?

    So has anyone actually read Mr Banks??? :)
  • Iain Banks has a novel called ... erm ... something about wasps which is supposed to be really good, and I'm currently reading his SF novel, so we'll see! :) There are so many on there I don't know! Animal Farm by George Orwell is good.

    ~Chris
  • Iain Banks has a novel called ... erm ... something about wasps which is supposed to be really good, and I'm currently reading his SF novel, so we'll see! :) There are so many on there I don't know! Animal Farm by George Orwell is good.

    ~Chris
  • I'd encourage anyone to read Excellent Women by Barbara Pym and The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles, but really I'm here to say how reassuring to see that you felt the same way I did about the list! It was such an odd selection, and seemed to feature so many writers I didn't particularly care for!
  • I'd encourage anyone to read Excellent Women by Barbara Pym and The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles, but really I'm here to say how reassuring to see that you felt the same way I did about the list! It was such an odd selection, and seemed to feature so many writers I didn't particularly care for!
  • jem
    Good to see your responses to this list - like you I had a fair few ‘who’ moments!

    I read ‘The Fifth Child’ (Doris Lessing) a while ago, it was quite creepy and dark - you might like it.

    I like the more straightforward Ballard stuff (‘Empire of the Sun’) but you might prefer his weirder ones.

    John Fowles wrote ‘The Collector’ which I read a long while ago but remember really enjoying.

    Ishiguro is a weird one - I hated ‘Remains of the Day’ but loved ‘Never Let Me Go’ - they were worlds apart.
  • jem
    Good to see your responses to this list - like you I had a fair few ‘who’ moments!

    I read ‘The Fifth Child’ (Doris Lessing) a while ago, it was quite creepy and dark - you might like it.

    I like the more straightforward Ballard stuff (‘Empire of the Sun’) but you might prefer his weirder ones.

    John Fowles wrote ‘The Collector’ which I read a long while ago but remember really enjoying.

    Ishiguro is a weird one - I hated ‘Remains of the Day’ but loved ‘Never Let Me Go’ - they were worlds apart.
  • Robert
    What I've read of Ballard did not impress me (Millennium People), but I'm told his earlier works were amazing, in particular The Drowned World.

    For Iain Banks, someone keeps telling me The Crow Road is a masterpiece, but haven't read that either.

    For Michael Moorcock, Behold the Man is vaguely interesting, and the Elric Omnibus is cheerful enough, but once again, I have a nagging suspicion he's better at short stories than full-length novels.

    I'm a bit surprised that Aldous Huxley isn't on the list (or did he predate 1946?)

    And I adore Pullman's Northern Lights trilogy.

    Most of the writers on the list aren't ones I'd read for enjoyment. Glen Duncan, Toby Litt, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, ... all missing. Och well. Knew I wasn't the literary type...
  • Robert
    What I've read of Ballard did not impress me (Millennium People), but I'm told his earlier works were amazing, in particular The Drowned World.

    For Iain Banks, someone keeps telling me The Crow Road is a masterpiece, but haven't read that either.

    For Michael Moorcock, Behold the Man is vaguely interesting, and the Elric Omnibus is cheerful enough, but once again, I have a nagging suspicion he's better at short stories than full-length novels.

    I'm a bit surprised that Aldous Huxley isn't on the list (or did he predate 1946?)

    And I adore Pullman's Northern Lights trilogy.

    Most of the writers on the list aren't ones I'd read for enjoyment. Glen Duncan, Toby Litt, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, ... all missing. Och well. Knew I wasn't the literary type...
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