Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by lazlee 971 days ago
I hate to say it ... Stephen King.
1 comments

Not that sure. Look at the best selling authors of the 1920s, they aren't widely known anymore.
It's possible the film version of The Shining will have better recognition than the name Stephen King, in just a few decades. That's been the fate of a lot of once-ultra-popular early 20th century authors whose works were made into still-well-known films. Might happen to him, too.
Edna Ferber.

The movies Cimarron, Giant and Showboat definitely more well known than her novels on which they were based.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publishers_Weekly_list_of_best...

Sinclair Lewis has multiple titles listed - best-selling author of the 1920s - later a Nobel Prize winner in literature.

I'm not familiar with a lot of those books, admittedly. But most books in the top 10 for those years are notable enough, that they have their own Wikipedia article. "All Quiet on the Western Front" and "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" in particular are highly influential works. They've had movies etc. made and are surely familiar titles to the average American, even if they may not have read them.

You under estimate the lasting power of a good ghost story.

You need a good example? Edgar Allan Poe.

Well hasn’t he been a best selling author for 4 decades now?