You folks are always good for a lively discussion. I much prefer Modern American Literature although I suppose a few Modern English authors have snuck in there over the years. George Orwell is one that comes to mind. I don’t want to start dissing anyone favorite authors. I’m just wondering if there are any folks here who don’t like Modern American literature, and why not?
That’s a pretty broad category, isn’t it mutey?
I’ve had to read some awful literature from a wide variety of geographical regions in the pursuit of scholarship.
But, as for American:
Giants in the Earth by Ole Edvart Rølvaag was, for example, quite bad.
Furthermore, I would never again require myself to read anything by William Faulkner.
The Grapes of Wrath ? Please. The 1 page Bathroom Reader version was plenty.
I realize I’m probably a certifiable troglodyte, but I really don’t enjoy being depressed, so I tend to seek uppers,
or–more often–read non-fiction.
That is a broad category…and I’m one of the folks who likes modern American Lit.
Yes, there are some that are torture to read, but there’s lots to like too. 
OK, I’ll tighten up the category a bit. Do English people “get” American Literature and vice a versa? Is there much of a market cross-countries? Is there a British invasion in Literature like there is in music? Do British people go ga-ga over our literature like they do over everything else about our culture. (OK, I just threw in that last sentence so they could make their tea with the steam coming out of their ears.)
If a book gets too difficult to read because I get bogged down in trying to understand what is going on because of unfamiliar words or cultural or historical events that I know nothing about, I lose interest. If a book requires a knowledge of cricket or boarding school or something else that has no meaning in my life that I won’t be able to figure out, I’ll lose interest.
This happened to me with the Barrytown Trilogy- not that I was bogged down exactly, but there were so many things referred tothat I just plain didn’t know(easy cheese, tippex, all that soccer stuff) it made me curious. So I luckily found a “translator”, which made my enjoyment of them much more. In addition to being entertained by some great writing, I learned a bunch of new stuff.
When I think modern English lit, I think P.G. Wodehouse then I think of Bertram Wooster& Jeeves, which leads to thinking of House and then I’m thoroughly confused…but I do love those Jeeves and Wooster stories. 
What is classified as “modern” here?
You cannot discuss modern English literature without including Irish lit, too. 
Mukade
I like literature. Sans prefix.
My collection of reading material has large amounts of American writers (Mario Puzo, James Ellroy, Raymond E Feist) and large amounts of British writers (Ian Rankin, Terry Pratchett, Christopher Brookmyre). I even have a lot of books that aren’t crime or science fiction…
I find with the large amount of American influence in film and TV we can read American writers with no problems at all and understand most of the cultural references they use. Just like I can watch The Sopranos and get most of the references, books aren’t any different.
It’s hard to avoid American Literature here. The review magazines seem to get their material wholesale internationally, so American literature is well represented.
I like William Faulkner. Very black humour, but very funny. I’m thinking of “As I lay Dying” (I think it was).
I recently read the collected works of Eudora Welty. One character I can’t stand is Henry James. The prose style defeats me. I find Thurber’s pastiches of him hilarious.
F. Scott Fitzgerald mystifies me. What was he trying to say? “I wish I was rich?” This is not an author I would choose to read for pleasure.
Then again, the word “modern” is the key. Are these modern? Depends on how you define it.
I cannot lightly dismiss the literature of a country that has given me Ray Bradbury.
Here is a crossover: Frank O’Connor. “My Oedipus Complex and other stories”. I loved “My First Confession”. I didn’t realise until years later that Frank O’Connor is an American.
He wasn’t. He was a Corkonian.
Im just not a ‘storybook’ kinda guy.
however, if you’d like to discuss the merits of Barber, Persechetti, or Mingus vs. Walton, Tippett, or Maxwell-Davies; count me in.
(who? wha? 
)
There is probably a formal definition of “modern.” I like to use my own difinition of “modern” that I apply to movies. Once three people wearing hats appear in a movie, it’s no longer modern. Three hats and it’s no longer relevent to me. You can use whatever definition you like.
then do not read ‘The Road’ (McCarthy) or ‘Native Son’ (Wright)
Where the blue blazes did I get the idea he was American? I read it somewhere - I thought it was in the blurb of one of the books! 
Serious Brain wreck here. 
It actually makes more sense that he was from Cork. Only the best people are from Cork 
But he did teach in the US for a while, so your mistake isn’t unfounded.
For the record: “Modern” literature (also, “Modernist”) is typically defined as happening between 1900 and 1920. It’s a very particular style. It’s what all us Post-Moderns are doomed to carry into Hell. A heavy load.
I take it this thread is mostly about prose, so I’ll likely duck out. Just looking to clarify. The term you guys were probably looking for is “contemporary.”
I apologize for getting all semantic.
OhhhhhhNooooooooooo
I love Fitzgerald- particularly The Great Gatsby- the way he puts the words together is sheer genius.
But then I love Erskin Cauldwell too…Tobacco Road and God’s Little Acre…
On Fitzgerald:
He might be a dude that doesn’t translate well across the pond. Most of this themes (esp. in The Great Gatsby) center around post-WWI disillusionment and its crippling effect on what is typically referred to as “The American Dream.” It would be a great disservice to Fitzgerald to say he wanted to be rich; in all likelihood, he didn’t want to be rich so much as he pitied the rich. Most of his wealthy characters are impotent and disingenuous. Even their redeeming qualities are constantly undermined. FWIW.