July 1st, 2011 / 11:43 am
 Snippets
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Who writes America best?

44 Comments

  1. July 1st, 2011 / 3:44 pm Joshua—

      Hard to tell without seeing everyone’s handwriting.

  2. July 1st, 2011 / 3:49 pm deadgod—

      multiple choice

  3. July 1st, 2011 / 4:04 pm deadgod—

      Okay; I choose (a)  James Madison, though I think it is sneaky to put the “best” answer first and before ‘Vespucci’s mother’. 

      David M. McPherson writes “America” very well.

  4. July 1st, 2011 / 4:23 pm Cwinnette—

      Bill Callahan.  

  5. July 1st, 2011 / 4:31 pm brittany wallace—

      glenn beck

  6. July 1st, 2011 / 4:41 pm Samuel Sargent—

      I’m torn between Jack Kerouac and Dr Seuss. But they’re both dead, so I guess neither of this is writing in the present tense. So I’ll go with Marilyn Manson.

  7. July 1st, 2011 / 5:13 pm robert r—

      Don Delillo

  8. July 1st, 2011 / 5:22 pm alex seubert—

      there is no one america.

  9. July 1st, 2011 / 5:34 pm citizen—

      mark leyner

  10. July 1st, 2011 / 5:35 pm Daniel Bailey—

      the founding fathers

  11. July 1st, 2011 / 5:40 pm richard chiem—

      kafka

  12. July 1st, 2011 / 5:42 pm goner—

      Mobb Deep

  13. July 1st, 2011 / 5:47 pm Mikael Awake—

      The French: Tocqueville; Baudrillard; French Montana.

  14. July 1st, 2011 / 6:07 pm Kristen Iskandrian—

      edith wharton, jk

  15. July 1st, 2011 / 6:27 pm NLY—

      Probably Emerson, unless it’s me.

  16. July 1st, 2011 / 6:35 pm Frank Tas, the Raptor—

      Denis Johnson, Arthur Miller, and to a slightly lesser extent Hubert Selby, Jr.

  17. July 1st, 2011 / 6:35 pm Frank Tas, the Raptor—

      Denis Johnson, Arthur Miller, and to a slightly lesser extent Hubert Selby, Jr.

  18. July 1st, 2011 / 7:37 pm oswald golnik—

      Everybuddy

  19. July 1st, 2011 / 7:55 pm Thomas Levy—

      lady gaga

  20. July 1st, 2011 / 8:34 pm EC—

      A Brit writes America best:  D.H. Lawrence in “Studies in Classic American Literature.”  He just gets it.

  21. July 1st, 2011 / 8:50 pm kevocuinn—

      Donald Ray Pollock

  22. July 1st, 2011 / 9:41 pm Mark Doten—

      beat me to it

  23. July 1st, 2011 / 10:33 pm Thachickenflava—

      the Thank You plastic bag

  24. July 1st, 2011 / 10:54 pm marshall—

      wack

  25. July 1st, 2011 / 11:29 pm William VanDenBerg—

      Steven Millhauser.

  26. July 2nd, 2011 / 2:39 am Nigel—

      donald goines

  27. July 2nd, 2011 / 5:27 am Brendan—

      Gil Brewer

  28. July 2nd, 2011 / 5:37 am alan—

      do you mean james?

  29. July 2nd, 2011 / 8:03 am nick—

      second

  30. July 2nd, 2011 / 8:04 am nick—

      sarah palin, barrack obama and lou dobbs

      and your mom

  31. July 2nd, 2011 / 12:52 pm bartleby_taco—

      Danny’s Pizza in Queens open till 5 am, sweet sauce

  32. July 2nd, 2011 / 1:37 pm deadgod—

      I don’t know which thing I said that you’re referring to nor which “james” you mean.  Your question is, for now, a pleasant enigma to me.

  33. July 2nd, 2011 / 5:14 pm Troyweav—

      Jimmy Chen

  34. July 2nd, 2011 / 11:36 pm Leopoldbloom—

      David Foster Wallace, no question.

  35. July 3rd, 2011 / 1:21 am Tummler—
  36. July 3rd, 2011 / 1:22 am Tummler—

      Also, Lil B.

  37. July 3rd, 2011 / 2:39 am postitbreakup—

      duh, stephen colbert…

  38. July 3rd, 2011 / 2:39 am postitbreakup—

      duh, stephen colbert…

  39. July 3rd, 2011 / 5:31 am alan—

      oh, there’s a well-known civil war historian james m. mcpherson

      i couldn’t find david on amazon

  40. July 3rd, 2011 / 2:56 pm TonyOneill—

      whose america are we talking about?

      4 different takes:  burroughs, goines, crews, thompson.

  41. July 4th, 2011 / 8:44 am David Rylance—

      For contemporary white America, Joan Didion. For America more abstractly and inclusively, James Merrill’s ‘The Changing Light at Sandover’. For stern Southern truths, Frank Stanford’s ‘The Battlefield Where the Moon Says I Love You’ or anything by Flannery O’Connor.

  42. July 4th, 2011 / 10:22 am kb—

      I’ll go with the first name that came to mind, which is E.L. Doctorow.

  43. July 5th, 2011 / 5:42 pm NLY—
  44. July 7th, 2011 / 5:58 am Alexander J. Allison—

      Richard Yates.

      I can’t believe no one has said RY yet.