The 50 greatest British writers since 1945
From The Times:
They are many authors of particular interest to this group:
50. Michael Moorcock
Most of Moorcock’s 80-plus novels are unashamedly pulp. But he wins his place for a series of genre-crossing novels linked by a taste for metafictional devices — he often appears in them himself and characters occur and recur in “historical” and “fantasy” guises. Perhaps his best work, Mother London, is a history of the capital from the Blitz, and blazed a trail picked up by Iain Sinclair and Peter Ackroyd.
43. Philip Pullman
Powerful, passionate and superbly plotted, [His Dark Materials] are modern classics, as appealing to adults as to children.
42. J. K. Rowling
With its satires on politics, education and the media, though, her world is far from simplistic. These are well-told stories that will enthral, amuse, scare and delight children for generations to come.
38. Iain Banks
An entertaining and outspoken writer, at 53 Banks still has something of the enfant terrible about him.
30. John Fowles
Those who prefer their prose without fancy textual tricks may blame John Fowles for the colourful mess that was postmodernism.
29. Alasdair Gray
A debut novelist might hope to be called promising, but to be heralded as “the greatest Scottish novelist since Sir Walter Scott” is more than most could hope for.
28. Alan Garner
Long before Philip Pullman and J. K. Rowling there was a children’s author who crossed the boundaries between real and imaginary worlds — and between a young and an adult readership. Alan Garner’s writing is firmly rooted in the Cheshire landscape that remains his home and draws freely on myths and legends.
27. J. G. Ballard
The French philosopher Jean Baudrillard, enthused by more than just the likeness of their names, hailed Crash as the first great postmodern novel.
18. Mervyn Peake
The fantastical English Bildungsroman with crossover appeal is nothing new: long before Harry and Hogwarts, Peake gave us Titus Groan and Gormenghast. He also gave us paintings, illustrations (including of Alice in Wonderland) poems, plays and photographs.
16. Roald Dahl
Famous both as an adult short-story writer (whose Tales of the Unexpected were televised in the 1980s) and a screenwriter, Dahl’s children’s novels have long been family favourites.
14. Ian Fleming
In 1944, as the war reached its climax Ian Fleming, an officer in Navy Intelligence, told a friend: “I am going to write the spy story to end all spy stories.” And that is exactly what he did.
11. C. S. Lewis
He once quipped that “any amount of theology can now be smuggled into people’s minds under cover of romance”. But although Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia are imbued with Christian allegory, the seven books are far more fantastical than the purely religious realms to which they are sometimes confined.
10. Angela Carter
[W]ho can resist The Bloody Chamber? These visceral excisions of the juiciest, darkest parts of favourite fairytales reveal a literary sorceress to be reckoned with.
6. J. R. R. Tolkien
Tolkien’s themes of fellowship, sacrifice and the importance of the natural world are traceable to his experiences in the First World War, as well as to a love of folklore and of myth.
5. Doris Lessing
She is a writer who can smell a storm brewing. The Golden Notebook, published in 1962, is one of the earliest and greatest texts of the modern feminist movement. Its heroine, Anna Wulf, is a writer in crisis, recording her life in a series of coloured notebooks. During the 1970s and 1980s, Lessing used science fiction as a medium for exploring moral and political ideas. She did not,
however, abandon realism — Love, Again (1996) is a brilliantly disturbing dismemberment of romantic love.
2. George Orwell
A writer ceases to be iconoclastic and becomes iconic when he is subsumed into the fabric of the society that he criticises.
The complete list.
What better way to start the year than with an argument? The Times has decided to present you with a ranking of whom they consider the best postwar British writers, and are awaiting your responses.
They are many authors of particular interest to this group:
50. Michael MoorcockMost of Moorcock’s 80-plus novels are unashamedly pulp. But he wins his place for a series of genre-crossing novels linked by a taste for metafictional devices — he often appears in them himself and characters occur and recur in “historical” and “fantasy” guises. Perhaps his best work, Mother London, is a history of the capital from the Blitz, and blazed a trail picked up by Iain Sinclair and Peter Ackroyd.
43. Philip Pullman
Powerful, passionate and superbly plotted, [His Dark Materials] are modern classics, as appealing to adults as to children.
42. J. K. Rowling
With its satires on politics, education and the media, though, her world is far from simplistic. These are well-told stories that will enthral, amuse, scare and delight children for generations to come.
38. Iain Banks
An entertaining and outspoken writer, at 53 Banks still has something of the enfant terrible about him.
30. John Fowles
Those who prefer their prose without fancy textual tricks may blame John Fowles for the colourful mess that was postmodernism.
29. Alasdair Gray
A debut novelist might hope to be called promising, but to be heralded as “the greatest Scottish novelist since Sir Walter Scott” is more than most could hope for.
28. Alan Garner
Long before Philip Pullman and J. K. Rowling there was a children’s author who crossed the boundaries between real and imaginary worlds — and between a young and an adult readership. Alan Garner’s writing is firmly rooted in the Cheshire landscape that remains his home and draws freely on myths and legends.
27. J. G. Ballard
The French philosopher Jean Baudrillard, enthused by more than just the likeness of their names, hailed Crash as the first great postmodern novel.
18. Mervyn PeakeThe fantastical English Bildungsroman with crossover appeal is nothing new: long before Harry and Hogwarts, Peake gave us Titus Groan and Gormenghast. He also gave us paintings, illustrations (including of Alice in Wonderland) poems, plays and photographs.
16. Roald Dahl
Famous both as an adult short-story writer (whose Tales of the Unexpected were televised in the 1980s) and a screenwriter, Dahl’s children’s novels have long been family favourites.
14. Ian Fleming
In 1944, as the war reached its climax Ian Fleming, an officer in Navy Intelligence, told a friend: “I am going to write the spy story to end all spy stories.” And that is exactly what he did.
11. C. S. Lewis
He once quipped that “any amount of theology can now be smuggled into people’s minds under cover of romance”. But although Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia are imbued with Christian allegory, the seven books are far more fantastical than the purely religious realms to which they are sometimes confined.
10. Angela Carter
[W]ho can resist The Bloody Chamber? These visceral excisions of the juiciest, darkest parts of favourite fairytales reveal a literary sorceress to be reckoned with.
6. J. R. R. Tolkien
Tolkien’s themes of fellowship, sacrifice and the importance of the natural world are traceable to his experiences in the First World War, as well as to a love of folklore and of myth.
5. Doris Lessing
She is a writer who can smell a storm brewing. The Golden Notebook, published in 1962, is one of the earliest and greatest texts of the modern feminist movement. Its heroine, Anna Wulf, is a writer in crisis, recording her life in a series of coloured notebooks. During the 1970s and 1980s, Lessing used science fiction as a medium for exploring moral and political ideas. She did not,
however, abandon realism — Love, Again (1996) is a brilliantly disturbing dismemberment of romantic love.2. George Orwell
A writer ceases to be iconoclastic and becomes iconic when he is subsumed into the fabric of the society that he criticises.
The complete list.
Labels: The Times
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