Greatest Storyellers of All Time

[adaorardor]

The title is pretty self-explanatory, and my initial list might make it even clearer what I'm thinking of. Coming quickly to mind are:

Homer
Herodotus
Sheherazade
Marco Polo
Boccaccio
Hans Christian Andersen
Hoffman
Hebel
Poe
Borges
Isak Dinesen
Calvino

Who am I forgetting in this tradition?

[DWM]

The author of the Bible?

[Amoxcalli]

The author of the Bible?

I found most parts of the Bible rather tedious to read, actually.



I think García Márquez' Cien años de soledad is a fine example of outstanding storytelling, and what I've read from his other work is rather impressive, too.

[Galatea92]

Valmiki (the reputed author of the Ramayana)
Rudyard Kipling
Ferdowsi (author of the Shahnameh -the Persian epic)

[Mirabell]

Don't hit me but I itch to add

John Irving

to the list. But certainly

Isaac B. Singer

[lionel]

Dubya
Tony Blair

[Heteronym]

Tony Blair

Surely you mean Alastair Campbell?

[lionel]

Surely you mean Alastair Campbell?

But who employed him? And anyway, Blair said he had a direct hotline, or something like that, to Big G. That's some story. I was specifically thinking of the WMD fairy tale, of course.

BLOG

[Stephni]

Herman Charles Bosman
Roald Dahl

Both excellent short story writers - I think that may be a prerequisite for the title.

Mirabell I want to add Clive Barker and Tom Robbins to your John Irving

[Flower]

Here are two children storytellers from Scandinavia:

Astrid Lindgren
Tove Janson

And by the way, Isak Dinesen=Karen Blixen!


How about Dostojevsky and Dante?

[childeroland]

Homer
Virgil
Tolstoy (in his short novels)
Italo Calvino
Hans Christian Andersen
The Brothers Grimm
Jane Austen
Charles Dickens
John Bunyan (just in Pilgrim's Progress)
Thomas Malory
Charles Perrault
Aesop
The author of the Nibelunglied

[johnw1]

I'm quite surprised Stevenson hasn't yet been mentioned.

Great shout!