Are there any authors who, before they died, knew for a fact they had written a masterpiece? Writers totally cognizant of the magnitude of their work and completely self-fulfilled because of it? (Whether the world liked it at the time or not.)
I feel like we hear often about authors who bash their early work when they get old. I want to know about the ones who were 100% confident.
I imagine Schopenhauer knew his 'On Women' was the pinnacle of human-philosophical thought
My diary (not honest).
Obviously not life is about always being hungry. The best Authors live alone, write alone and win the Pulitzer prize alone
The Pulitzer is for flavor of the month hacks.
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nnah
I want to say Melville, but i have no idea.
Yes please
Nietzsche, but that might've just been the mental illness talking.
Joyce.
McCarthy is alive and knows he's Cannon
Indeed, you don't.
Bane?
...didnt he want all of his work destroyed at the time of his death? hes like the absolute worst answer to the question
Idk if gass thinks that the canon will carry weight like it used to, but he at least knows he is in it. Maybe the last to enter. Also I'd say DFW for blackholing the last literary movement canonized, but hes so widely misread that I dont know.
Mulisch.
He was already considered one of the greatest Dutch writers of all time, first and foremost by himself then the people.
When he wrote his Magnus Opus the motivation for it was to adorn the first place in every forthcoming Dutch literature list/topten/favourites for the next eternity.
Metafiction is a core aspect of his work, both in terms of fre- quency and poetical meaning. He knows he is smarter then you, he shows he is smarter then you, you believe he is smarter then you.
He also banged different 17 year old puss almost daily.
his books are garbage and he's gonna be forgotten in a few decades. period piece core.
>this is what corncobbers seriously believe
>If he won the most prestigious award in the world hes a fucking hack and nothing he did was good.
>I SAY THIS BECAUSE SOMEONE ELSE WON AN AWARD IN ANOTHER UNRELATED FIELD AND I DIDNT LIKE THAT SO I FEEL THAT INALIDATED THE WHOLE FUCKING SOCIETY
that's not why he thinks pulitzer winners are hacks.
Emile Zola.
Why does he then? And how do you know?
Dante.
When your first novel is titled 'A Portrait of the artist as a young man' you don't lack confidence.
"Oh god, ive summoned the krauts"
this. and Joyce.