Most overrated writer?

[R'as al Ghul]

You could probably say that any one of the 'great' writers is overrated, but heck, I'll throw in Melville mostly because I read half the first page of Moby Dick and didn't understand a thing he had written.

Which first page?
The "Call me Ishmael" first page or the real first page, where he provides the Etymology for whales or the compendium of Extracts with the ironic introduction?
I think Melville's Moby Dick is quite amazing. It can be seen as an early postmodern novel. It's entertaining, thrilling and educating.
The literary analysis over the years has reached quite absurd heights, though.
But the book itself is great. I'd say give it another try.

Mark Twain is pure genius as is Shakespeare in my opinion.
Tolkien wrote the first book of a new genre but on C.S. Lewis and
J.K. Rowling, I agree.
Oh and Hemingway, the chauvinist, is way overrated.
If you want to enjoy Hemingway don't ever read something biographical about him.

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

Oh and Hemingway, the chauvinist, is way overrated.
If you want to enjoy Hemingway don't ever read something biographical about him.

I second that.

[Avicenna]

JK Rowling.

Flush Harry Potter down the drain please.

[JimBob]

Oh and Hemingway, the chauvinist, is way overrated.

He's an ass, so what? As a writer he is able to convey meaning, thoughts, emotions, etc mostly with dialogue and minimal description. See Hills Like White Elephants or A Clean Well Lighted Place for examples. He was a brilliant writer, an ass of a man.

[matteus the inbred]

Dickens...booooring. Had to study Hard Times at school, it is a most accurately titled book...

David Eddings...contrived, repetitive, predictable, shallow, annoying crap.

Haven't read Rowling and don't intend to, and Dan Brown had me floundering in a pool of guilt-ridden hatred for a book I couldn't put down even though I knew it was all poorly written rubbish and cliched as well.

[Fragony]

Flush Harry Potter down the drain please.

How dare you! Harry Potter is awesome, best children's books since Roald Dahl. So much lighthearted humor, a little scary, and a believable parralel universe.

Goooooooooooooo Harry!

[R'as al Ghul]

He's an ass, so what? As a writer he is able to convey meaning, thoughts, emotions, etc mostly with dialogue and minimal description. See Hills Like White Elephants or A Clean Well Lighted Place for examples. He was a brilliant writer, an ass of a man.

You're right. He is a good writer. Even in the genre I most like, the short story, he is really one of the best. It's a personal thing. I did like his stories very much until I came to learn more about him. It's always dangerous to go there. You never know what to find. In case of Hemingway I didn't like it.
So, what's overrated meaning anyway?
So far we either had authors of the literary canon which some of us found annoying having to deal with and we had popular authors that millions read but we don't agree with.
You could argue that Dan Brown got so much critique that he isn't overrated anymore, just oversold.

[King Henry V]

Guy de Maupassant is another dreary writer, in the style of naturalisme, where the stroy is meant to be as realistic as possible. Ergo, it bores the bottom off you.
BTW, C.S Lewis wrote Narnia before Tolkien wrote LOTR.

[Reenk Roink]

I take my original choice of William Shakespeare back (not really because of you Lemur, though you are a very nice Lemur ). I still believe that he is greatly overrated, but that pales in comparison to Voltaire...

I just wrote a great essay for my AP 12 class today and stuck it to him...

[Red Peasant]

Bloody Proust. A la recherche du temps perdu. Nuff said.

Somebody dissed Tolstoy, yet WaP rocks (in English). But I couldn't quite 'get' Dostoevsky, nor Melville (agree with previous poster having trouble getting beyond the first paragraph....I gave up).

I think virtually most modern writers who get nominated for the prestigious awards such as the Booker are usually very overrated.

Agree with BKS about Tess, but loved Far From the Madding Crowd and The Mayor of Casterbridge. However, Hardy's poetry was better than his novels.

Can't believe there are people who don't get Shakey though, just goes to show that tastes differ. Thankfully, I have good taste

[Papewaio]

David Eddings...contrived, repetitive, predictable, shallow, annoying crap.

Such a Royalist/Elitist... really only people with royal titles or followers of gods are heroes in the first two series he wrote.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Dan Brown. Generic book, spiced up with lies he says are true, an anti-Christian premise, and immeasureable hype from the media.

Many old writers who are consistently dull.

I never got why Frank Herbert was so well liked, either.

Because he wrote Dune. Have ye not read it?!

nor Melville (agree with previous poster having trouble getting beyond the first paragraph....I gave up).

Heh...for my honors English class, our teacher had us read the 3 chapters of the book that were in our textbook, then we watched the Patrick Stewart movie version. He was, in case you were wondering, an assistant football coach.

Crazed Rabbit

[ICantSpellDawg]

it has to be
dan brown - "controversial" just means "i needed it to splash because i couldnt sell it on talent"
or
jrr tolkien - smart guy but his writting style was pretty boring

[Incongruous]

Tolkien was a linguistic genius and his books do seem to hit a note through the ages. LOTR was an amazing piece of work. He writes in the epic form and I'd doubt anyone would say Vergilius Maro or Homer (if he even wrote) had boring writing forms. I mean they are epic wriyers.
Shakespear, an amazing playwrite and virtual father of the modern English language (gods how many words did he add over a thousand?).

Most overrated...
MR ARCHER,SNIFF SNIFF?

[Byzantine Mercenary]

[QUOTE=R'as al Ghul].
Tolkien wrote the first book of a new genre but on C.S. Lewis and
J.K. Rowling, I agree.
QUOTE]
him and CS Lewis were contemporaries (and friends) but CS Lewis's world is very different from Tolkiens, when you read the entire series, they are both based on creatures from myths and legends (the true origins of the fantasy genre) so similaritys are understandable. Thats not even the main thing, CS Lewis did not just write The Narnia books he has written a lot of very good books about religion such as the screwtape letters, Narnia was written for children just the same as the hobbit was, would you judge all Tolkiens works on just the Hobbit?

[R'as al Ghul]

him and CS Lewis were contemporaries (and friends) but CS Lewis's world is very different from Tolkiens, when you read the entire series, they are both based on creatures from myths and legends (the true origins of the fantasy genre) so similaritys are understandable. Thats not even the main thing, CS Lewis did not just write The Narnia books he has written a lot of very good books about religion such as the screwtape letters, Narnia was written for children just the same as the hobbit was, would you judge all Tolkiens works on just the Hobbit?

On second thought, I take back my claim that Tolkien invented a genre. I think the quest-literatur goes way back to Homer's Odyssey.
I hated the hobbit when I first tried to read it. Too much on the hobbits lineage for my taste at the time. Ten years later however, after having read the LotR, I picked it up again and enjoyed it very much. I only browsed through Narnia while my gf read it and it didn't appear to be so special to me compared to the enormous hype the books got through the films.
That's what I was trying to say earlier, it's more a matter of taste than objective criticism.

[Byzantine Mercenary]

On second thought, I take back my claim that Tolkien invented a genre. I think the quest-literatur goes way back to Homer's Odyssey.
I hated the hobbit when I first tried to read it. Too much on the hobbits lineage for my taste at the time. Ten years later however, after having read the LotR, I picked it up again and enjoyed it very much. I only browsed through Narnia while my gf read it and it didn't appear to be so special to me compared to the enormous hype the books got through the films.
That's what I was trying to say earlier, it's more a matter of taste than objective criticism.

yeah sure, the Narnia books are also very linked in with CS Lewis's personal beliefs so i can understand people not likeing them, its odd when his books on religion are overlooked because, they are very interesting.

[Atilius]

Leo Tolstoy. It's probably a matter of taste and fashion, but I just couldn't stand the emotionalism in War and Peace.

I think Melville is wonderful. This is from memory, so the punctuation is likely to be disastrous, but here's a passage in which Ahab reveals something about the reason for his obsession about the white whale:

"All visible objects man, are but pasteboard masks, from behind which some invisible, but still reasoning thing puts forth the moldings of its features from behind the unreasoning mask. If thou wouldst strike man, strike through the mask!"

[Paul Peru]

Dan Brown is probably the most overhyped and oversold since St. Paul, but I don't think I've heard anyone call him a good writer yet.

Many writers may be overrated, or I may be stoopid. Joyce? He doesn't do anything for me, but I think it's me.

I'm fairly certain the Norwegian Nobel laureate Sigrid Undset is overrated.

I loved Douglas Adams' work, but he's probably overrated. He was just very, very funny.

[Byzantine Mercenary]

[QUOTE=Paul Peru
I loved Douglas Adams' work, but he's probably overrated. He was just very, very funny.[/QUOTE]
well isn't that presisely what he was setting out to do, if he achieved it surely he can't be overated?

[Don Corleone]

John Grisham. He's alright, but not great. Everyone runs around swarmily touting his praises when he puts something out, but at the end of the day, he's a formula writer. No different than Jackie Collins, just different forumula.

[Crazed Rabbit]

John Grisham=young southern lawyer fighting big evil corporation.

Reminds me of a two books by a children's author I remember reading where the plots went thus: young boy gets pet. Pet grows older, they have many good times. Pet tragically dies. Boy is bitter, but eventually gets another, very similar if not blood-related young pet. The end. Just insert 'horse' or 'dog' for either story and you've got the plot.

Crazed Rabbit

[Big_John]

books are overrated.

[doc_bean]

Which first page?
The "Call me Ishmael" first page or the real first page, where he provides the Etymology for whales or the compendium of Extracts with the ironic introduction?

The 'Call me Ishmael' one. i might give it another try, but then it will be in Dutch instead of English...

[Scurvy]

Shakespeare, his comdies just are'nt funny

[Lemur]

Shakespeare, his comdies just are'nt funny

In the words of Philip Marlowe, "Yo yo, don't be a player-hater. Increase the peace."

[Shaka_Khan]

I would say all the writers of the Star Wars sequels.
The books lack the feeling of outerspace war atmosphere and memorable characters. The celebrities in the movies are the ones who built up most of the character building feel of the Star Wars that we know of when we think of the movie.

[Keba]

Hamurabi ... what? He wrote stuff.

[Shaka_Khan]

Are you talking about a law in Babylon?

[Geoffrey S]

Dan Brown, James Joyce and JK Rowling top my list.