Writers have always influenced and inspired many individuals through their works. They’ve also captured the most significant moments in their novels. Mostly, their works provided a glimpse of the changing world and the prevailing social conditions. Some also offered excellent solutions to the most complex human problems.
You might want to know who are those literary greats, whose contributions are well-known in the world of literature. Here we’ll take a look at some of the greatest writers of the late twentieth century:
1. Jonathan Franzen
He is well-known for his 2001 novel titled The Corrections, which is more of a criticism of the society. It had won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2001. In the same year, it found its way into Oprah Winfrey’s book club. The very next year, this book won James Tailt Black Memorial Prize for fiction.
His debut novel was The Twenty-Seventh City, which came out in 1988. Its setting was in St. Louis, his hometown. The novel talks about the city’s fall from grace. Many gave it a warm reception and Franzen became a sought-after author.
2. Isabel Allende
Allende’s works are popular for including certain elements of magical realism at times. She is also famous as the world’s most widely read author in the Spanish language. Her novels The House of the Spirits and City of Beasts have been successful commercially. Allende has been living in California since 1989. She got her citizenship of the United States of America in 1993.
The House of the Spirits was her debut novel, which came out in 1982. As compared to some of her contemporaries, she’s not openly political. However, she has expressed her support and contempt for certain politicians at times.
3. Ian McEwan
In the year 2008, Ian McEwan was featured in The Times‘ list of 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Born in Hampshire on the 21st of June 1948, he began his writing career with Gothic short stories. He earned the nickname of ‘Ian Macabre’ with his first two novels. They were The Cement Garden and The Comfort of Strangers.
He got the Booker Prize for his novel, Amsterdam, in 1998. Atonement, his next novel, received great acclaim and was adapted into an Oscar-winning movie of the same name. Most of his works showcase personal lives that are closely observed in a world fraught with politics.
4. Margaret Atwood
This Canadian author’s works cover a range of themes, which include climate change, religion, power politics, and myth. She has published 18 novels, 18 collections of poems, 11 non-fiction books, and 9 short fiction collections since 1961. Besides these works, Atwood has published a number of small press editions of fiction and poetry. She has also published children’s books and a couple of graphic novels.
For her brilliant literary works, she has won two Booker prizes. Over the years, many of her works have been adapted for films and television series. She also invented the LongPen device, which facilitates remote robotic writing.
5. David Mitchell
Born in England on the 12th of January 1969, David Mitchell is a novelist and also writes for television and films. He got the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for his first novel titled Ghostwritten. His novels number9dream and Cloud Atlas were on the longlist for the Booker Prize.
Mitchell has also translated Japanese books on autism into the English language. He had stayed for eight years in the Japanese city of Hiroshima for teaching English.