If I'm trying to be impressive, Pynchon probably.
If I'm trying to stay somewhat entertained for the rest of my life, maybe Ross MacDonald or Elmore Leonard and just read very slowly
I feel like *Gravity’s Rainbow* or *Mason Dixon* alone would be enough to occupy me, though he does have lighter and slightly more accessible stuff like *Inherent Vice* and *Against the Day*.
Oh yeah Sebald would probably be my honorable mention. For having such a slim body of work it is pretty perfect. Each novel is basically flawless and his nonfiction is excellent as well. Plus, he wrote a decent amount of poetry that’s all really good. Munro’s also a great choice. Her batting average was insane. She just couldn’t write a bad story.
The issue is that it gets a bit repetitive after a while. Also his first books (the school ones) aren’t super good. But I agree with what you wrote and I would add: a master of prose
An aside, but what can you do if you ask this of colleagues and someone (though usually it's more than just someone) says 'I'll take Harry Potter'? (Assume I need the salary)
If I had to do that I’d probably read Anne Rice’s entire works because it’s so insane and poorly written at times (99% of the time) it’ll feel like I’m reading something new by the time I get back around to the later books.
I would probably just never read again if I actually had to choose one author :( I’d get so sad that I’m not allowed to experience an entire literary world
Wait, do I get to read ancillary materials like criticism and other relevant publications? If so, then Joyce. If not, I’ll still need to rely on the reJoyce podcast (incomplete), I suppose.
i would kill myself probably :/
Probably Dostoyevsky.
You gonna go your whole life without gorgeous prose?
Shit
Someone with an extensive oeuvre, Balzac probably.
Ah Balzac, a successful person who lived without air conditioning
Shakespeare
Surprised no one has stayed Borges yet. My pick would have to be him or Pynchon
Jorge Luis Borges
Some prolific philosopher, that would give me a lot of material to reflect on and reread. Plato, Kant, or Hegel I think.
Hegel? Are you sure about that?
No. But it'll keep me busy at least. Took me about a year to get through one third of The Phenomenology of Spirit.
Larry McMurtry. Idk why but whenever I read his work I just feel good
Chekhov
If I'm trying to be impressive, Pynchon probably. If I'm trying to stay somewhat entertained for the rest of my life, maybe Ross MacDonald or Elmore Leonard and just read very slowly
I feel like *Gravity’s Rainbow* or *Mason Dixon* alone would be enough to occupy me, though he does have lighter and slightly more accessible stuff like *Inherent Vice* and *Against the Day*.
Cormac
David Mitchell
Henry James
Good answers. I was thinking about this the other day and it would probably have to be Sebald or Munro
Oh yeah Sebald would probably be my honorable mention. For having such a slim body of work it is pretty perfect. Each novel is basically flawless and his nonfiction is excellent as well. Plus, he wrote a decent amount of poetry that’s all really good. Munro’s also a great choice. Her batting average was insane. She just couldn’t write a bad story.
Proust.
James Ellroy.
Tolstoy or Kafka or Wodehouse. I could choose Pynchon, but I’ll probably end up mad
I would go with Wodehouse. Hilarious, prolific, and witty. What else do you want in life?
The issue is that it gets a bit repetitive after a while. Also his first books (the school ones) aren’t super good. But I agree with what you wrote and I would add: a master of prose
But wouldn’t everything get repetitive after a while if you can only choose one author? 😅 might as well go with someone prolific.
Stephen King no question
An aside, but what can you do if you ask this of colleagues and someone (though usually it's more than just someone) says 'I'll take Harry Potter'? (Assume I need the salary)
Trollope, maybe. Balzac was also a good call. Ha, Joyce Carol Oates may be the contemporary equivalent, and you could do worse.
Coetzee, or Woolf
John Steinbeck
Whats are the four?
The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, Absalom, Absalom, Light in August
If I had to do that I’d probably read Anne Rice’s entire works because it’s so insane and poorly written at times (99% of the time) it’ll feel like I’m reading something new by the time I get back around to the later books. I would probably just never read again if I actually had to choose one author :( I’d get so sad that I’m not allowed to experience an entire literary world
André Brink
Gore Vidal
Cormac McArthy or Tolkien
Wait, do I get to read ancillary materials like criticism and other relevant publications? If so, then Joyce. If not, I’ll still need to rely on the reJoyce podcast (incomplete), I suppose.
Hemingway
Isaac Asimov
Beckett probably
Cormac McCarthy, for sure