Who are your Authors (Film Makers, Artists, etc.)

[€uroMeinke]

Well, I just finished another Murakami novel, The Wild Sheep Chase and thoroughly enjoyed it. Again I’m amazed it took me so long to stumble across this author. Honestly, if it wasn’t for our recent trip to Tokyo, I would have remained clueless to this day.

That said, in some ways I have come to believe that Murakami’s sole purpose in life is to write fiction simply to delight and entertain me. He’s quirky, loves to play with reality in a world where fantastic things happen to ordinary, mediocre people. I love this stuff in all its contemporary fairytale splendor. Who else could he be writing for except me? (we’ll Not Afraid and the girl in the chocolate store too.)

Who are your authors; the one’s who capture your specific interests in a way that they must be spying on your dreams? Perhaps they are not the best writers, but they seem to be writing for you.

[wendybeth]

Ooh, good thread!

First and foremost: Gustave Flaubert. He was a twisted little perv, but few can measure up to his writing abilities.

Charles Dickens: He's my favorite light reading author. If ever I want a good dose of Pathos and Sentimentality, he's my guy.

Leo Tolstoy: Made me love all things Russian.

Voltaire: Another twisted little perv with a wicked sense of humor.

Jane Austen: I re-read 'Pride and Prejudice' every year.

Guy de Mauppessant: I love his stories- they are a window into times past and the human condition that will always be.

Dante Allegheri: This guy had balls. He put the then-current Pope in the lower part of Hell in the Divine Comedy. He was lucky to only be exiled.

Cripes. I have too many on my list. I could go on and on, depending on mood and memory. I know all these authors are dead, but they wrote for me.

[€uroMeinke]

Voltaire: Another twisted little perv with a wicked sense of humor.


Heh - indeed, I lay claim to him as well for casue and effect would never be the same without him.

[Alex]

I don't think I've found one. If I listed my top 25 favorite books, only half would be fiction and the non-fiction is too dispersed across subjects for one person to capture my focus.

If I limited myself to the top 25 fiction books I don't think there is an author that would be on it more than once. Many authors seem to have captured lightning once in their careers (Candide, Les Miserables, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Crime and Punishment, Seymour, An Introduction, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant) but so far I haven't found one that has really done it twice (not that they haven't written other good things, just nothing that really grabs me and won't let go.

But as I get older I read less and less fiction so finding that person, if they exist is less and less likely.

[€uroMeinke]

I don't think I've found one. If I listed my top 25 favorite books, only half would be fiction and the non-fiction is too dispersed across subjects for one person to capture my focus.

How about film makers? (I lay claim to Wim Wenders in the same way I do Murakami)

[Alex]

Wim Wenders is all yours. Haven't cared for one of his movies yet.

I'm not a big fan of auteur theory in the modern era since I think there are simply too many independent factors in quality filmmaking for it all to consistently be under the authorship of a director.

Amusingly, I think that auteur theory blossomed just as directors lost control with the end of the studio system.

As such, I tend to end up back in the studio system with the likes of Preston Sturges, Alfred Hitchcock (whose fame and power allowed him to maintain control through the death of the studios, to some degree), and George Cukor.

Among current filmmakers I would go with Jim Jarmusch, Kar Wai Wong (though 2046 is horrible), Michael Mann (though I'm saddened by the upcoming Miami Vice) and Wes Anderson (who is way too young to truly know yet but I have hope).

[Alex]

Whoops, this is why I hate lists. I forgot Mankiewicz.

[€uroMeinke]

Wim Wenders is all yours. Haven't cared for one of his movies yet.


Heh heh - precisely my point, there's something about his aesthetic that seems to speak to me if no one else. Perahsp that's what I need to better articulate. I'm not looking for the best, your favorite (though it might well be), but who are the artists and writters that resonate with you even though you know others might yawn and throw up their hands in exasperated disbelief.

I have great hopes for Wes Anderson as well.

[Moonliner]

I don't think I've found one. If I listed my top 25 favorite books, only half would be fiction and the non-fiction is too dispersed across subjects for one person to capture my focus.


Errr, umm it's not like I really know you all that well or anything, but does that not "too dispersed across subjects" capture your essence fairly well?


PS: On a more personal note, have you read the new/last The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant? Yet? Althought I gather they are more about his son than him.... I was tempted by the hardback.

[Alex]

Chris, in that case, I don't think there I've come across a filmmaker that falls into the category you're talking about.

Moonliner, I'll wait until all four books have been published before I consider reading them. I have a terrible memory when it comes to books so I don't like to read series in progress since I always need to reread the whole thing when the next book comes out. I don't know yet if I'll read them even then. I think the first Chronicles is just about perfect (and to a degree falls into the category Chris is asking about since it works for me on many levels but most friends of mine hate them) but the Second Chronicles are seriously flawed so I prefer to pretend they were never written. I'll probably be weak and read the new series but I'd like to think not.