Top 10 Classic English Authors

We head to the Emerald Isle first, and to the fine city of Dublin in particular. James Joyce is widely recognized as one of the most influential modernist writers of all time. A key figure within the avant-garde scene that was erupting in Europe around the 1920s, Joyce is known for his short story collection “Dubliners” and the novels, “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” and “Finnegans Wake.” However, “Ulysses” is Joyce’s masterpiece. A dense, epic stream of consciousness account of one day in the life of protagonist Leopold Bloom, it is filled with parallels to Homer’s “Odyssey,” but is a literary legend in its own right.

If Joyce led the modernists, then Jane Austen stood out a century earlier among the romantics. Austen’s is a reputation that has grown and grown with the passing of time. During her own lifetime, Austen was well received by critics, but there was nothing like the ‘Janeite’ fan culture that exists today. With four novels published before she died - “Sense & Sensibility,” “Pride & Prejudice,” “Mansfield Park” and “Emma” - Austen’s depictions of landed gentry and love-struck ladies will live on for years more to come!

The first American writer to make our list, William Faulkner’s cerebral, complex work is strongly identified with the American south. A Mississippi man himself, he created Yoknapatawpha County as a place in which the action for novels such as “The Sound and The Fury” and “As I Lay Dying” could unfold. A two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, this versatile writer is perhaps most known for his attention to detail, especially to diction, accent and cadence. In the Modernist world minimalism was rife, but for Faulkner the richness of the text was key!

An American writer of a slightly later generation now, but one whose works are considered classics all the same. Kurt Vonnegut was working in a post-World War II environment during which all eyes were set on the future, and many were at least a little bit scared about what we saw. “Cat’s Cradle” is a notable example of Vonnegut dismantling the newfound technological age, but he knew not to forget the past as well. The semi-autobiographical, war-laden “Slaughterhouse-5” is arguably the stand-out work in this icon of counterculture’s body of work!

From “To the Lighthouse” to “Mrs. Dalloway,” from “Orlando” to “A Room of One’s Own,” Virginia Woolf stood at the forefront of fiction-writing from the end of the 1920s onward. A central figure within the world-famous Bloomsbury Group of intellectuals and artists, Woolf worked out of London and helped shape modern ideas on feminism and sexuality. Her own severe depression and mental health problems eventually led to a tragic suicide in 1941 - but Woolf’s writing will remain relevant for, and read by, generation after generation!

A leader of the Lost Generation, Ernest Hemingway has to be considered one of America’s greatest writers. With “A Farewell to Arms,” “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “The Old Man and the Sea,” he created a fervent following and earned himself a Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and a Nobel Prize in 1954. A self-fashioned ‘man’s man,’ he was proof that literature wasn’t just for pacifists and sensitive types. However, like Woolf he also had problems within his own head and committed suicide in ’61. A great talent gone too soon!

Dubbed by William Faulkner as “The father of American Literature,” this guy certainly set some standard for North American writers! Best known for “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and subsequently of “Huckleberry Finn,” Twain moved between genres and subjects throughout his career. A lover of science and technology, he helped develop ‘sci-fi’ with “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.” He was a friend to presidents and royalty, as well as a historian! An eccentric, eclectic man, his life and death coincided with rare sightings of Halley’s Comet. His wit and character were appropriately out of this world!

With a bibliography that includes sixteen novels, one of the most impressive things about John Steinbeck is that the vast majority of those novels could be considered classics. This man was both pioneering and prolific. He is probably most known for the Pulitzer Prize winning “The Grapes of Wrath,” which has sold an astounding 14 million copies. But anybody who’s ever studied English at high school is likely to have come across his characters George and Lennie in “Of Mice and Men.” A simple story that still affects us in our adulthoods, we always hope the ending will have changed!

Many writers have become successful by including a little social commentary in their work. But putting the world to rights has never been executed quite as expertly as when this man put pen to paper! With “1984” and “Animal Farm” in particular, George Orwell became one of the world’s most influential writers! So important is he, the word ‘Orwellian’ was invented to describe anything that bore a likeness to his work. ‘Big Brother’ may be watching us, but we’re watching Orwell’s prophecies come true every day!

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Arthur Conan Doyle
- Joseph Conrad
- J. D. Salinger
- Oscar Wilde

Could there ever be another at the top of this particular reading list? Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” is one of the best-selling novels of all time, with an estimated 200 million copies sold. But it’s a tale that takes its place in among an extensive collection of important writings! “A Christmas Carol” continues to inspire readers today, “Great Expectations” never disappoints, “The Old Curiosity Shop” always intrigues, and characters such as Oliver Twist and David Copperfield will never be forgotten. Dickens was the greatest writer of the Victorian period, and of any period. Period!

Do you agree with our list? Which author do you like to read? For more well-written top 10s published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.