My Three Favorite Writers

My three favorite writers are Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, and Thomas Pynchon. They have a lot in common. All three are science fiction writers, but write “soft” science fiction that the space-opera snobs dislike. Their stories are more “what if’s” than technical fantasies (Not that there is anything wrong with “hard” science fiction, I enjoy that in small amounts, but that’s just my personal preference). 

Vonnegut and Bradbury tend to write short, terse stories and novels that are compact and focused. Pynchon writes sprawling tomes filled to the brim with odd characters and songs. Vonnegut and Pynchon both studied at Cornell as science majors before leaving and pursuing creative writing (though Pynchon returned to pursue a degree in English).

Bradbury writes stories that are filled with wonder. I picture him as a man in love with the newness and intricacies of the world. Vonnegut was a depressed man who was pessimistic about mankind and often wrote of war and tragedy. Pynchon writes off-the-wall paranoid thrillers filled with drugs, sex and obscure references to organic chemistry, engineering and Nabokov novels.

All three writers are concerned primarily with humanity. They use science fiction scenarios not as the end goal, but the means to explore our history and destiny. Taken together, each provides a different facet of life experience, and I think when you put the three together you get a very comprehensive picture of homo sapiens. You’d see our capacity for destruction and violence, our ability to create naturalistic “magic” through technology. You’d see the love and selflessness we are capable of. You’d see the absurdity which can be at once beautiful and terrible.

Fahrenheit 451, The Illustrated Man, Slaughterhouse Five, Cat’s Cradle, The Crying of Lot 49 and V are easily the most influential novels that shape my view of what good literature should be: entertaining, human, real, meaningful, and insightful.

If you’ve never checked these guys out, do yourselves a favor and head to your local library to explore their books. If you have, maybe this will refresh your memory and make you remember why you fell in love with these authors in the first place.

 

(P.S. It should be noted that I am also a Stephen King nut, but while he writes a good yarn that reveals a lot about American life, and is a surprisingly skilled writer, I didn’t feel I should list him up there with my Three Giants).

 

 

Tags: Bradbury, Cat's Cradle, favorite writers, Pynchon, Slaughterhouse Five, The Crying of Lot 49, The Illustrated Man, V, Vonnegut