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Disproportinate influence of british authors

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storyyeller More like giant cherries from Appleloosa Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: RelationshipOutOfBoundsException: 1
More like giant cherries
#1: Dec 29th 2011 at 4:13:31 PM

It seems to me like a disproportionate share of famous (English language) authors comes from the UK. The only non American, non British author I can even think of is Eoin Colfer and he's Irish. Why are there no famous authors from Australia or New Zealand, or other English speaking countries?

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DomaDoma Three-Puppet Saluter Since: Jan, 2001
Three-Puppet Saluter
#2: Dec 29th 2011 at 4:44:52 PM

Because that's how it turned out, I guess, and the British did get a head start back when book mass-production really took off? I don't see the point in anything sinister.

Anyway, I'm guessing there are a lot of famous authors I assumed were American but are really Canadian. Canadians are stealthy that way.

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Jimmmyman10 cannot into space from polan Since: Mar, 2011 Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
cannot into space
#3: Dec 29th 2011 at 5:43:27 PM

Because while we (America) were establishing ourselves as a nation, England was cranking out literature. England was the center of the world back then.

edited 29th Dec '11 5:44:01 PM by Jimmmyman10

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MrShine Since: Jun, 2011 Relationship Status: Hoping Senpai notices me
#4: Dec 29th 2011 at 7:35:19 PM

A disproportionate number of authors i'm reading these days are scottish. They just do better sci-fi/fantasy than the USA does.

NoirGrimoir Rabid Fujoshi from San Diego, CA Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
Rabid Fujoshi
#5: Dec 29th 2011 at 8:32:46 PM

Garth Nix and Kate Forsyth, Australian.

Umm, can't think of any others.

edited 29th Dec '11 8:32:52 PM by NoirGrimoir

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ImipolexG frozen in time from all our yesterdays Since: Jan, 2001
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#6: Dec 29th 2011 at 9:00:40 PM

Robertson Davies comes to mind for Canada. Some might name Margaret Atwood.

But yeah, this is an interesting phenomenon. Not sure why it is.

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storyyeller More like giant cherries from Appleloosa Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: RelationshipOutOfBoundsException: 1
More like giant cherries
#7: Dec 29th 2011 at 9:52:48 PM

I just thought of another Canadian - Cory Doctorow.

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Falco Since: Mar, 2011
#8: Dec 30th 2011 at 4:50:24 AM

Wut? Who are you people reading?

I was gonna list some, but here: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Authors

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Drenius Hey, do you know the way to Shell Beach? from Northern Virginia Since: Dec, 2011
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#9: Dec 30th 2011 at 6:39:15 AM

Here's another Australian, Greg Egan. One of the most well-regarded authors of hard sci-fi currently writing.

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TTurtle Since: Aug, 2010
#10: Dec 30th 2011 at 8:35:53 AM

Hey, don't forget New Zealand-born Margaret Mahy! She's written some pretty good YA fantasy. And then there's Jaclyn Moriarty, a rising Australian YA novelist.

ryzvonusef ryzvonusef from Pakistan Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Is that a kind of food?
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#11: Dec 30th 2011 at 8:43:14 AM

[up][up][up]That kinda proves the point; look at how few of them are Canadian, Australian or New Zealanders, even though they are also Native English Speakers.

Also, keyword: Famous. Can't recall an Author who became *very* famous who wasn't American or British.

edited 30th Dec '11 8:44:52 AM by ryzvonusef

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wuggles (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#12: Dec 30th 2011 at 10:38:15 AM

Don't wanna be rude but isn't it like that with everything. Even when you name famous actors they're always either American or British.

Falco Since: Mar, 2011
#13: Dec 30th 2011 at 12:43:37 PM

[up][up]Three young countries with small populations having significantly fewer famous authors than the largest native English speaking country in the world and the birthplace of the English language? It doesn't seem that odd to me.

"You want to see how a human dies? At ramming speed." - Emily Wong.
Jimmmyman10 cannot into space from polan Since: Mar, 2011 Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
cannot into space
#14: Dec 30th 2011 at 5:53:58 PM

Lets put down the facts: around the same time Literature was becoming a major deal, as in anyone can write and publish, England was conquering the world.

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storyyeller More like giant cherries from Appleloosa Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: RelationshipOutOfBoundsException: 1
More like giant cherries
#15: Dec 30th 2011 at 7:36:13 PM

Population of 23 million vs 62 million isn't even close to enough to explain the disparity.

Here are some hard numbers: Authors of Series with over 100 million copies according to Wikipedia:

  • American: 10
  • British: 7
  • Irish: 1 (CS Lewis)

If you were going proportionally by population alone, you'd expect at least 2 Australian authors on there, but there isn't a single one.

edited 30th Dec '11 7:45:30 PM by storyyeller

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feotakahari Fuzzy Orange Doomsayer from Looking out at the city Since: Sep, 2009
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#16: Dec 31st 2011 at 3:18:02 AM

Australian stories seem to have difficulty finding American publishers, so the problem may be self-perpetuating (as in, American publishers don't publish them, so they don't sell to the large American audience, so they don't have as high sales figures and American publishers aren't willing to publish them.)

Then again, Deltora Quest somehow managed to become popular in Japan, so America definitely isn't the only international market available.

edited 31st Dec '11 3:20:36 AM by feotakahari

That's Feo . . . He's a disgusting, mysoginistic, paedophilic asshat who moonlights as a shitty writer—Something Awful
NoirGrimoir Rabid Fujoshi from San Diego, CA Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
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#17: Dec 31st 2011 at 11:32:19 PM

Eh, I also find it kind of weird that most Australian stuff I've read is very 'British' if you get me. It doesn't have a big 'Australian' flavor. I think people would actually be more interested/attracted if it stood out a bit more. Then again this may be publishers' fault.

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Ckuckoo Since: Nov, 2010
#18: Jan 1st 2012 at 3:04:49 AM

In defence of Australia and New Zealand, I think it's worth noting that the other countries under discussion here have had a head start. Australia only existed as a nation since 1901, and its nationhood was still basically attached to Britain by the hip until the 1960s. New Zealand is even younger. People were too busy doing the things you do when you're trying to get workable settlements and build up a nation, to write many books.

Basically, we're still setting up the foundations of our literary scene/s in Australasia, rather than contributing to a literary scene that already has solid foundations. That's how I see it, anyway.

I think this is where the UK has its advantage - it has entire epochs of literary creativity to work with, whereas the US just has a few centuries, and the rest of us don't even really have that. You can be much more creative when you have much more to work with.

Bajazeth Since: Dec, 2011
#19: Jan 1st 2012 at 4:45:01 AM

I am not really sure it's disproportionate; Britain has just produced more and better literature, probably because it's been doing it for way longer than the other English-speaking countries have.

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Draighean from Ireland Since: Dec, 2011
#20: Jan 1st 2012 at 3:15:51 PM

Personally, I think it's the whole the "Britain is the centre of the world" attitude that has been around for centuries. Not so much nowadays obviously, but back then America, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, not to mention a whole load of other countries, were the colonies, too busy rebelling or trying to make a living to focus on literature. Britain was the homeland, the centre of all knowledge and arts. The other countries were there primarily just for resources. What did they need fancy books for?

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feotakahari Fuzzy Orange Doomsayer from Looking out at the city Since: Sep, 2009
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#21: Jan 1st 2012 at 10:41:32 PM

I don't think it's about merit—after all, it's easy to name really, really good Australian authors. (I'm a John Marsden fan myself.)

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Flyboy Decemberist from the United States Since: Dec, 2011
ryzvonusef ryzvonusef from Pakistan Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Is that a kind of food?
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#23: Jan 2nd 2012 at 2:25:36 AM

Yes, but I, atleast, wasn't considering *all* the books created since Time immemorial, merely the regular output. For example, how many english books, publish since the start of the 3rd Millenium, have been published by Non-British/American authors, and became renowned all over the world?

The only one I can recall is Canadian author of Malazan Book Of The Fallen, and even then I am not sure whether it was published in Canada, or the US.

Is it perhaps, that Canadian/Australian/New-Zealanders/Caribbean/what-have-you Authors are simply not promoted? Or does the population there not have a literary-bent?

edited 2nd Jan '12 2:30:17 AM by ryzvonusef

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Ckuckoo Since: Nov, 2010
#24: Jan 2nd 2012 at 4:32:57 AM

^ I think I can answer your post. The point I was making earlier is that the longer your country has been developing its literature, the greater scope there is with which to develop genre, style, format, and artistic conventions that can be inspiring to later writers. I think it is fairly inevitable that there is a less regular output from countries such as Canada, Australia, NZ, the Caribbean countries etc.

To put it another way, in the UK a new author can play around with the literary greats that have shaped their country's literature into what it is. In the UK, PG Wodehouse, Shakespeare, CS Lewis and so forth are British works depicting the British people and the British way of life. A British author can draw on PG Wodehouse, say, so accentuate their chatty comic take on life to make a great idea even greater (which is basically what Douglas Adams largely seems to have done, using a very British Wodehousian style to write sci-fi satire - he added a fresh concept to an established British writing style, and went crazy with it). A Caribbean author might be inspired by Wodehouse certainly, but to transpose it into a Caribbean context they would have to create from scratch a more Caribbean feel and style to the writing so it makes sense - and, of course, they would have to have been able to associate with the foreign work in the first place.

To resort to trite truisms, all new ideas feed from old ideas. If a New Zealander has mostly British/American stuff to work with, I don't think it's so surprising that there are less New Zealanders who get fed enough ideas to become truly famous and internationally respected writers. In some ways this is likely self-perpetuating. Granted, this is a fairly nationalistic depiction of the creative process, but when the American or British character of a work is often so characteristic, recognisable, and pervasive in US/UK fiction, I think it is a realistic one.

Also, according to wikipedia Deltora Quest has sold over 15 million copies worldwide as of 2010, whereas Malazan Book Of The Fallen had by 2006 sold only over 250,000 copies. =P

edited 2nd Jan '12 4:43:37 AM by Ckuckoo

feotakahari Fuzzy Orange Doomsayer from Looking out at the city Since: Sep, 2009
Fuzzy Orange Doomsayer
#25: Jan 2nd 2012 at 5:07:24 PM

^ Is it really that hard to use other countries' literary elements in realistic fiction? I know it's not hard to use them in speculative fiction (I've found that American, French, and Japanese elements can mix quite nicely.)

edited 2nd Jan '12 5:07:47 PM by feotakahari

That's Feo . . . He's a disgusting, mysoginistic, paedophilic asshat who moonlights as a shitty writer—Something Awful

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