If you see a whole thing - it seems that it's always beautiful. Planets, lives... But up close a world's all dirt and rocks. And day to day, life's a hard job, you get tired, you lose the pattern. - Ursula K. LeGuin

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Influential Writers

As seen over at Dr. Crazy's.

As my regular readers know, I love me some writers. Other than individuals I know personally, I would say writers have had the largest influence on my life, so I was quite happy to see this meme.

According to the rules you are supposed to list the 25 most influential writers in your life. As others have pointed out, influential writers are not necessarily the ones who you enjoy the most nor is this a list of my top 25 most important writers. Rather it is a list of people who have influenced me over the years. I will admit, however, that I am predominately influenced by those I like. If I don't like a writer, I stop reading. Life is too short and there are far too many books to be reading something I don't enjoy.

Some are doing this in chronological order but I don't think I will be able to do so. Some writers have influenced me greatly but differently at different eras in my life. You are also supposed to tag 25 people to do this, but that is too tall of a task. Instead I will invite you all to play along.
  1. Octavia Butler
  2. Ursula K LeGuin
  3. Virginia Woolf
  4. Toni Morrison
  5. Doris Lessing
  6. T.S. Eliot
  7. Anne Carson
  8. Carol Gilligan
  9. A.A. Milne
  10. Grace Paley
  11. Maxine Hong Kingston
  12. Jane Austin
  13. George Eliot
  14. Leo Tolstoy
  15. Dr. Seuss
  16. Tillie Olson
  17. bell hooks
  18. Sara Ruddick
  19. Carolyn Heilbrun
  20. Adrienne Rich
  21. Mary Oliver
  22. Nikki Giovanni
  23. Mary Shelley
  24. E.B. White
  25. Henry James
It is also very interesting to follow the links back to see other people's choices. It makes me want to start following new blogs. I suppose it is similar to the saying "a friend of X's is a friend of mine."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I love your list. My number one writer is Flannery O'Connor, not because she's Southern as I am, but because she was a genius, the queen of relevant details and structure. Each time I read one of her stories, I learn something new about the craft.