# Who would you put on the Mount Rushmore of Literature?



## Hunter56 (Jul 12, 2014)

I'm pretty sure you've all heard the phrase "The Mount Rushmore of _____" in regards to who is the best in a given field. So who do you guys think are the four greatest writers that should be forever immortalized in the Mount Rushmore of Literature?

In regards to the face placement on the memorial: 

For Washington I'd put Ernest Hemingway.

For Jefferson: Mark Twain.

For Roosevelt: Edgar Allan Poe.

For Lincoln: Charles Dickens.


Let's see yours!


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## escorial (Jul 13, 2014)

Washington....J.Steinbeck

Jefferson.......R.Yates

Roosevelt......Bukowski

Lincon...........J.Salinger


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## LeeC (Jul 13, 2014)

A challenging question, but possibly misleading  I started to fall victim to the innocent thrust of this question, then thought better. In my opinion with no disrespect intended, it's a question that's indicative of overly focused, yet oxymoronically generalized, thinking we're all subject to. 

May I beg the consideration, that if one were "well read," earnestly and objectively trying to ferret out what each and every untold offering presents regardless of individual subjective perspective, just how one might arrive at such speculation. At a minimum, one's criteria would necessarily be so restrictive as to negate the generality of the question. 

So far in a long lifetime of reading, I have learned just how little I do know, and but a few of the biases in my thinking. Even given another lifetime, ... well you get the point.

It is a question that might lead to more in-depth thinking of what writing is all about and its influence on society as a whole, for which I commend you  

My best wishes to you and yours,
LeeC


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## Hunter56 (Jul 13, 2014)

LeeC said:


> A challenging question, but possibly misleading  I started to fall victim to the innocent thrust of this question, then thought better. In my opinion with no disrespect intended, it's a question that's indicative of overly focused, yet oxymoronically generalized, thinking we're all subject to.
> 
> May I beg the consideration, that if one were "well read," earnestly and objectively trying to ferret out what each and every untold offering presents regardless of individual subjective perspective, just how one might arrive at such speculation. At a minimum, one's criteria would necessarily be so restrictive as to negate the generality of the question.
> 
> ...



Lol you really don't need to overanalyze it. It's just something for fun, I didn't say at all that it's a super-serious-bottom-line-decision. There is no right or wrong answer and even if you haven't read all of the greats you can still express your opinion.

I'm not surprise by your response, as I've started a few "Who do you think is the best?" threads on various sports and movie-related discussions and there's always a few people that respond saying "Oh well that's impossible to do I don't think this should even be a discussion blah blah blah" (not intending to mock you just saying the gist of what other people say about it) and I think they miss the whole point: It's just for fun. 

This isn't a council meeting. There is no actual Mount Rushmore of Literature about to be erected. It's just something I thought of while I was bored.


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## BryanJ62 (Jul 19, 2014)

*Me. Why not. Some have said I have a big head might as well put it to use.*


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## ppsage (Jul 19, 2014)

> This isn't a council meeting. There is no actual Mount Rushmore of Literature about to be erected. It's just something I thought of while I was bored. :wink:


It's really hard for me to understand how a writer can ever be bored? Frustrated I get.


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## ppsage (Jul 19, 2014)

Since the purpose of a Mount Rushmore is ethnogenesis through the creation of demigods, I think it should only be Americans. Oops, I mean USA'ers. The commercial Madonna of modern US lit Hemingway definitely. And Twain who so acerbically differentiated we colonials from other English scribblers. To be effective, somebody more foundational is needed, I don't think Irving though so maybe a transcendentalist, Thoreau is too offbeat  for a monument, so how about Emerson? Should we allow a girl? Or a poet? Dickinson might do, if we need to get the ladies on board. Now raise a flag and salute.


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## Pidgeon84 (Jul 19, 2014)

Lol without over analyzing this like everyone else:

Shakespeare 

Hemingway 

Orwell

King


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## Hunter56 (Jul 19, 2014)

ppsage said:


> It's really hard for me to understand how a writer can ever be bored? Frustrated I get.



I guess I'm an anomaly lol.


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## Greimour (Jul 20, 2014)

I like Lee's response haha

However, I am not American, so I would have no problem doing this even if it was to be erected.

The spiteful me might be a little funny about it though - seeing as you Americans are the ones who will be stuck with it 

Washington = Dan Brown

Jefferson = Stephen King (cash cow)

Roosevelt = Stephanie Meyer

Lincon = Karen Miller (because I couldn't think of any more names that might get people mad)

~~~

On a more serious note:

*Washington = Charles Dickens

Jefferson = George Orwell

Roosevelt = George Lucas

Lincon = John R. R. Tolkien*

And any of these: 
William Faulkner; Jane Austen; Franz Kafka; Charlotte Bronte; James Joyce; Virginia Woolf (with exception to Orlando); J.D. Salinger; Ernest 
Hemingway; Jorge Luis Borges; Graham Greene; [I am forgetting some]; "William Shakespeare?"


I don't think it should be limited to USA author @ Sage. 

This is because aside from Native Americans who were arguably Persians that crossed the frozen Sea... all have heritage outside the US. 
Look to Roosevelt - didn't his family emigrate to the US from the Netherlands to a dutch colonial area known as New(Nieuw) Amsterdam which is known today as New York?


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## Pidgeon84 (Jul 20, 2014)

Do people dislike Dan Brown?


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## Greimour (Jul 20, 2014)

Pidgeon84 said:


> Do people dislike Dan Brown?



A surprisingly large number, yes. Personally I enjoyed the work of his that I read; but then I was more interested in the story than the writing so I didn't formulate the same opinions of those who hate his work.


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## Pidgeon84 (Jul 20, 2014)

I mean, I get why people would dislike Stephanie Meyer because it's so blatantly bad. Dan Brown doesn't strike me as blatantly bad.


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## ppsage (Jul 20, 2014)

> I don't think it should be limited to USA author @ Sage.
> 
> This is because aside from Native Americans who were arguably Persians that crossed the frozen Sea... all have heritage outside the US.


Getting rid of the old allegiance is the purpose of ethno-genetic mythology. Ancestral deities are invented and dead heroes are raised to the Rushmores to convince the clans into a new tribal affiliation. The shrine in question has been erected for precisely this purpose, to create and buttress a new tribe.


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## Greimour (Jul 20, 2014)

ppsage said:


> Getting rid of the old allegiance is the purpose of ethno-genetic mythology. Ancestral deities are invented and dead heroes are raised to the Rushmores to convince the clans into a new tribal affiliation. The shrine in question has been erected for precisely this purpose, to create and buttress a new tribe.



Yeah, but this one isn't to unify a people to a single country despite ethnicity, religion and ancestry... 
This is to honour and aggrandize authors/writers for the rest of time in the minds of_ all_ who seek pleasure from the art and craft that is the written language. ^_^




Pidgeon84 said:


> I mean, I get why people would dislike  Stephanie Meyer because it's so blatantly bad. Dan Brown doesn't strike  me as blatantly bad.



I have two of his books next to me and another in the other room, I only read each of them once. I am tempted to read them again but figure out why people hate his work. Unfortunately, I can never be bothered. Maybe that is an indicator that his work is 'not good' ... because I never feel like reading his stuff a second time. Just the thought of reading it again makes me want to go to sleep - even though I liked it (the story at least) the first time I read it.

I have no doubt there are people on this forum who dislike Dan Brown, maybe they can 'illuminati' you.


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## ppsage (Jul 20, 2014)

> Yeah, but this one isn't to unify a people to a single country despite ethnicity, religion and ancestry...
> This is to honour and aggrandize authors/writers for the rest of time in the minds of_ all who seek pleasure from the art and craft that is the written language. ^_^_


Yeah. My point is it can't do that. Thankfully.


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## rogerblingham (Jul 20, 2014)

I happen to be a serious candidate if you are willing to wait for a century! LOL.


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## Greimour (Jul 20, 2014)

ppsage said:


> Yeah. My point is it can't do that. Thankfully.



I'm still not restricting my Rushmore to American only authors.  <3

Instead of Rushmore how about you think of it like this:

New Building paid for and constructed thanks to the combined efforts of every country on the planet.

"The World Library" - with art and literature from every corner of the world.

On the front of the building is 4 slots where heads of famous historical authors will be mounted. Every person on the planet gets to vote for 4 heads to be crafted and mounted in those places.

Which 4 authors will you vote to be mounted on the front of the World Library?

No more Rushmore issue? <3


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## Hunter56 (Jul 20, 2014)

Greimour said:


> I like Lee's response haha
> 
> However, I am not American, so I would have no problem doing this even if it was to be erected.
> 
> ...



It is _not _American authors only. If you noticed in my OP I added Charles Dickens to my MRoL.

And are you talking about George Lucas the director? Wasn't he only a screenwriter? 

Lastly, yes, all Americans that aren't Natives have ancestry from a different continent; and every white American has European ancestry.


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## nicksd530 (Feb 18, 2018)

looks like this is an old thread and no one will even read this, probably, but this is too fun of a question not to post. 
For British (UK) writers, I would have: Jane Austen, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, and Alexander Pope. (Honorable mentions to John Milton, Dickens, Tennyson, Chaucer, James Joyce (I said "British," recall ), Tolkien, and Charlotte Bronte - who I wanted to put on there because Jane Eyre is my favorite book of all time, and I believe it is - perhaps not the "best" book ever written, but one of the most *important* books; and she one of the most incredible, admirable people to have ever lived. Jane Eyre alone was not enough to put her on there, however. Just like Wuthering Heights alone was not enough to put sister Emily on there - whose book is also something monumentally "important," IMHO, for people - "us mortals"? - to read). 
For American writers only, I would put: F Scott Fitzgerald, Mark Twain, Arthur Miller, and of COURSE - last but not least (in fact she is the best) ... Emily Dickinson. (Honorable mentions to HD Thoreau, Salinger, Melville, and .... oh I *guess* Hemingway. ::eye roll:: same treatment with RW Emerson as I gave Hemingway). 
Now, the big question - would any American writers make it on the Mt Rushmore of English language writers? .... hmmmm. That would mean they are better than John f****ng Milton! and Alfred Tennyson, for god's sake!! Hmmm ... Fitzgerald? smh. I don't think so. I would put Joyce on there before him. ... Yes! I've decided - I declare with finality and confidence, I would absolutely (and so gladly, considering I love her to pieces!) put Emily Dickinson on there. She would replace ... oh F, which to replace with her?? Easy! She would replace Pope. (I forgot I had put him on there, which makes me think maybe I *should* have put Milton on there in place of Pope like I had wanted to. But no - Pope is a little more versatile than Milton, I would say. A lot more humorous, for one. I do prefer Milton, though. 
Anyways - that'll do it. Hope someone reads this  - But I doubt anyone will. 
And a little P.S. - how about a Mt Rushmore of poets only! ... Pope, Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Dickinson. I would say that Dickinson is the greatest poet of all time, yes. In human history. Would say it without qualms (but I am a bit partial, I admit).   
P.P.S. Ovid would at least be an honorable mention in poets worldwide. He is one of the few non-English writers I have even read, I confess with a bit of shame. Virgil is also phenomenal!
P.P.P.S. - I would be remiss if I did not mention the names, Rudyard Kipling, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, James Dickey (yes, that'sright, James Dickey; yes, the Deliverance author), JM Barrie, and (this is just because I love her, I don't think she is one of "the greatest", really) - Anne Radcliffe. Virginia Woolf is also a genius and a great writer - but an ugly, horrid person. Good day!


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## rayhensley (Mar 19, 2019)

Hunter S. Thompson, from young to old.


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## Amnesiac (Mar 19, 2019)

Poe, Bradbury, Melville, and Hemingway


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## Olly Buckle (Mar 19, 2019)

For me 'great' has to be 'accessible' , people like Milton, Shakespeare, and Dickens are sort of accessible, but they are not an easy read, and Shakespeare is more of a playwright. 

My immediate two, Mark Twain and Rudyard Kipling. After them I am not so sure.


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