His works, such as The Chronicles of Narnia, have inspired the works of other famous authors. Modern period in the English literature begins with the 20th century and remain till 1965. His play Long Day's Journey into Night is frequently named among the 20th century's finest American plays. It rhymes with this Mongolian fur collar that is also black and white, salt and pepper, Shaw says. His most popular book among Westerners is "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle," and 2005's English translation of "Kafka on the Shore" has also met with great success in theWest. He also wrote plays and short stories. On one occasion, a brick thrown through the window almost struck Hansberry in the head; years later, she recalled her mother patrolling [the] house all night with a loaded German luger., Tensions soon rose enough to convince Hansberrys father, Carl, to bring the case to the courts. But others writings continue to hold broad appeal long after their creators deaths: Originally published in 1911, Frances Hodgson Burnetts The Secret Garden was first made into a film in 1919. He was from Springfield, Massachusetts, and enjoyed a successful career as a cartoonist, poet, and animator. 20th Century Literature Women's roles in literature has evolved throughout history and had lead women to develop into strong independent roles. Isaac Asimov was an American writer. Novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and short-story writer F. Scott Fitzgerald is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Camilo Jos Cela is a Pulitzer Prize-winning Spanish author. Everything else in the room, from a framed painting to a window and an out-of-place tree with a birds nest in its branches, is blurred and bathed in overexposed light. This is a story that many people can relate to even to this day, as everyone encounters challenges during childhood. She developed ideas for the book based on her observations of her neighbors, friends, and family members. The Great Depression, the rise of . One of the most prominent literary figures of the early 20th century, with novels like "Mrs. Dalloway" and "To the Lighthouse" (1927). Author, screenwriter, and playwright David Mamet is best known for his Pulitzer-winning and Tony-nominated play Glengarry Glen Ross. She currently resides in the Chicago area. During his long career that spanned decades and reached into the 21st century, John Updike (19322009) was one of only three writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once. Many of his works have been adapted into films. Flanagan, Mark. Mark Twain, the father of American literature, was one of the worlds greatest 19-th century humorists and authors. He was a columnist for The Chicago Defender and wrote the iconic poem The Negro Speaks of Rivers. After experiencing a profound moral crisis in the 1870s, Tolstoy went through a phase of spiritual awakening, which had a great impact on his subsequent works that incorporated ideas on nonviolent resistance. T.S. Eugene O'Neill was an American playwright whose works earned him several prestigious awards, including four Pulitzer Prizes for Drama and the 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature. You may also want to consider reading books such as The Old Man and the Sea, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Sun Also Rises. Thanks to his illustrious career, which spanned more than 70 years, Arthur Miller is regarded as one of the 20th century's greatest dramatists. Fleming is credited with creating one of the most popular characters of all time, James Bond. Sylvia Plath achieved popularity and critical acclaim despite suffering from clinical depression for the most part of her adult life. The seven-time Nobel Prize nominee was also a Companion of Literature of the Royal Society of Literature and a Vedanta believer. From Margaret Wise Browns Goodnight Moon (1947) to Dorothy Parkers sarcastic poetry, Ruth Prawer Jhabvalas screenplays, Susan Sontags literary criticism, Joyce Carol Oates multi-genre fiction and Maya Angelous autobiographical novels, there is sure to be an author here [who] is on everyones list of favorites, Shaw concludes. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988, and Toni Morrison, a luminary of African American literature, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. Toni Morrison is one of the most celebrated American authors, female authors, and African-American authors of all time. He published seven novels and six short-story collections and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. However, he wasnt much popular during his lifetime. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/important-contemporary-authors-852801. J. D. Salinger is considered one of the twentieth centurys greatest writers and one of the greatest American authors of all time. This shines through in many of his works, including This Side of Paradise. A recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, Mailer is regarded as an innovator of New Journalism. Her illustrious career as a poet earned her the nickname Nightingale of India. Another iconic writer of the early 20th century was Charles Eastman, considered the first to write American history from the Native American point of view. Modernism was a literary and artistic movement that developed in the early decades of the 20th century and was especially influential after the First World War. James Joyce was an Irish novelist, poet, teacher, short story writer, and literary critic. The month after A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway, photographer David Attie visited its author, 29-year-old Lorraine Hansberry, at her Greenwich Village apartment. Philip Roth (19332018) seems to have won more book awards than any other late-20th-century American writer. As a result, many of her works became central to the feminist movement of the early 20th century. From New York Times bestselling author Curtis Sittenfeld's dazzling first collection, You Think It, I'll Say It, to National Book Award winner Denis Johnson's final collection, The Largesse of the Sea Maiden, there's something for every book lover from Random House. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine Harper Lee. Some of the most well-known writers from the 20th century who exerted extraordinary impact through their books include George Orwell, James Joyce, JRR Tolkien, F Scott Fitzgerald, CS Lewis, Virginia Woolf, Anne Frank, T.S. Interestingly, unlike films that have a lot more to them than just the story or script, in books, if you falter at your writing, you shall falter completely, for a reader can put down a book, at any point and any time. His best known work include his debut novel Go Tell It on the Mountain and his books of essays Notes of a Native Son and Nobody Knows My Name. His first novel was published in 1929 and was titled Cup of Gold. From there, she earned a masters degree at Cornell University. His personal life also attracted attention as he had sexual relationships with men, which was unusual at the time. English writer and philosopher Aldous Huxley wrote countless books, including novels, short stories, non-fiction, and poems. . Miller is credited with creating popular plays, such as Death of a Salesman, which is widely regarded as one of the best American plays of the 20th century. 4.27 avg rating 5,622,480 ratings. Top 100 Women of History. His stories have inspired several films like Tales of Ordinary Madness, Crazy Love, and Factotum. His 1901 novel The First Men in the Moon became so influential that a lunar impact crater is named after him. The novel began as a letter to her dying grandfather and is a work of magical realism charting the history of Chile. The English version of Murakami's well-received novel, "1Q84," was released in 2011. He wrote a host of novels, essays, plays, short story collections and travel books. Flanagan, Mark. Academic Research; English Language Learning; English Language Assessment; Educational resources for schools; Bibles; Another of the 'Angry Young Men', Braine is best known for his novels Room At The Top and The Crying Game. They have articulated their thought and belief seamlessly and managed to capture the attention of the reader effectively. Overall, he had 11 best-selling books in a career spanning over 60 years. Many people are interested in horror, dystopian, and science fiction works. This is a partial list of 20th-century writers. He pioneered a naturalistic method to writing superhero comics and challenged the Comics Code Authority, which ultimately led to changes in its policies. I love the way shes sitting on the steps, as though she's talking to a neighbor, Shaw adds. But I have tried to include a sampling of the most famous and characteristic works of the most-discussed writers, a great start for anyone who wants to capture the flavor of American Modernist Literature. 10 Important Contemporary and Late-20th-Century Authors. The Hugo Award-winner had also fought against the Germans in World War II and expressed his anti-war and atheist views through his works, which also include short stories, plays, and autobiographical works. She adds, The Time cover makes Morrison look like a really friendly person you want to go and hang out with, and then the McCurdy portrait makes her look so formidable and very challenging.. Toni Morrison's "Beloved" (1987) was named best novel of the past 25 years in a 2006 New York Times Book Review survey. . He significantly pushed the boundaries of American literature. Since his death, he has been the subject of many critical books and articles. Auden Ford Madox Ford Samuel Beckett John Millington Synge Derek Walcott Dylan Thomas References Photo byJoseph Beuys Hat. Best known for his science fiction works, Asimov was regarded as one of the Big Three writers along with Arthur C. Clarke and Robert A. Heinlein. Also known for his charity work, Dan Brown donates money to several charitable causes. He is best remembered for his science-fiction novels Brave New World and Island. An award-winning writer, many of Atwood's works have been made into films and television series; her work,The Handmaid's Tale, has had several adaptations. He is one of the most celebrated childrens authors of all time, and he wrote countless childrens books during his life. 100 Best American Authors. Even after four decades after her death, Agatha Christie remains an influential figure in the world of literature and entertainment as most of her books continue to serve as inspiration to films, TV series, and video games. He was from Springfield, Massachusetts, and enjoyed a successful career as a cartoonist, poet, and animator. With over two billion copies of her novels sold, she holds the Guinness World Records for best-selling fiction writer of all time. From Updike's post-World War II suburbia to Smith's postcolonial tale of London immigrants, the sweep of these writers' works chronicles the vast changes that have occurredover the turn of the 21st century. . According to the curator: That really resonates in a lot of the ways with what Kingston was writing about being first generation, living in a community that is tied to a past, [and] trying to reconcile where one stands in a world that is all about assimilation into a kind of Americanness that can be at odds with the traditions, values and expectations of ones family., Kingston, for her part, aptly summarized an obstacle faced by writers of color who choose to focus their work on marginalized communities. A man with a strong mind of his own, Orwell never backed down from stating his views on the socio-political climate he lived in, which he expressed profusely through his influential essays and novels. Many people read works by John Steinbeck in school, and he remains an incredibly popular author. That's an association that's easy to make visually, [but] it's less about her emulating Kahlo than it is about a common respect for, and love of, Mexican folk heritage and the aesthetic . During this time, he published his wildly popular book, The Great Gatsby. Gore Vidal was an American intellectual and writer. Working in a variety of jobs, he wrote in his spare time. He is best known for his novels "This Present Darkness" (1986), and "The Oath" (1995). Langston Hughes is best remembered as a prominent leader of the Harlem Renaissance. In the 1950s and 60s, for example, Jean Kerr won admirers for her comedic takes on white, middle-class suburbia, which spoke to a very specific moment . Many of her books deal with racism, civil rights issues, and other significant problems of the era. She wears large hoop earrings, and her hair, carefully parted in the middle, is arranged in a braided updo. An ardent supporter of the American Communist Party, the author also advocated for aggressive anti-racist action at a time when segregation was the norm. Referred to as the Bard of Bengal, Tagore is credited with reshaping Bengali literature and music. Even though he passed away of a heart attack in 1940, his books are still wildly popular even to this day. Wallace continues to serve as an inspiration to writers like Darin Strauss and George Saunders. W. H. Auden was an Anglo-American poet. Nobel Prize-winning Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, also known as Gabo, is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the magic realism literary style. The recipient of many prestigious awards, such as Grammy Awards, Shel Silverstein was posthumously inducted into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame. Sarojini Naidu was an Indian poet and political activist. 5 Characteristics of Modernist Literature Here are a few distinguishing characteristics of modernist literature. One of his novellas titled The Turn of the Screw has been the most analyzed ghost story in the history of English language literature. 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