American Authors Best answer on the web

Posted in: darrelrussell.com edit
08 Jan 2009
  • What are the names of twentieth century American male authors/writers with three word names ..example Earl Stanley Garner


  • Just off the top of my head:

    Authors who actually used three names,

    Edgar Rice Burroughs
    James Branch Cabell
    John Kennedy Toole
    Stephen Vincent Benet
    Edgar Lee Masters
    Edwin Arlington Robinson

    Authors who had three names but didn't use them, or abbreviated,

    E(lwyn) B(rooks) White
    James (Grover) Thurber
    Theodore H. White
    T(homas) S(tearns) Eliot
    (Samuel) Dashiell Hammett
    H(enry) L(ewis) Mencken

    hlabadie-ga


  • I have found other authors from different sources. My fellow researcher, bobbie7-ga, gave some of them.
    Gabriel Garc a M rquez
    MAX ALLAN COLLINS
    KEVIN BURTON SMITH
    Isaac Bashevis Singer

    "The Best of the 20th Century"
    http://www.januarymagazine.com/features/20part1.html
    http://www.januarymagazine.com/features/20part2.html

    Eric Jerome Dickey
    John Edgar Wideman

    “The AALBC's Favorite 50 African American Authors of the 20th Century” http://aalbc.com/books/thebestauthors.htm
    http://aalbc.com/books/thebesta.htm

    Edward Estlin Cummings

    Outline of American Literature
    http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/oal/auth6.htm

    James David Hart
    Van Wyck Brooks
    Carlos Heard Baker

    Amazon.com: Listmania! major american authors
    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/listmania/list-browse/-/JLF76XSZG5U6/ref%3Dcm%5Flm%5Fdp%5Fl%5F1/002-3840272-5828811
    Edwin Arlington Robinson
    http://www.bartleby.com/people/RbnsnEA.html

    Paul Laurence Dunbar
    James Weldon Johnson
    David Henry Hwang
    http://www.kosborne.8k.com/aa/aa20thsp00.html

    Madison Smartt Bell
    http://faculty.goucher.edu/mbell/

    Charles Alexander Eastman
    http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap6/eastman.html

    Rolando Hinojosa-Smith
    http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap10/hinojosa.html
    Charles S. Johnson
    http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap9/johnson_charles.html

    John Crowe Ransom
    http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap7/ransom.html

    Edwin Arlington Robinson
    http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap7/robinson.html

    Carl Van Vechten
    http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap9/vechten.html

    Edgar Lee Masters
    http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/emasters.htm

    If you need further assistance as regards to this question, please just request for another clarification.
    Thanks!


  • Hi again herbt-ga! Thanks for asking a clarification before making a rating.
    The site I mentioned above are only two sites which I looked and the last one has the most extensive list I could find right now.
    Since a truly complete list of 20th century American authors is impossible to find and verify (if it is indeed complete) would a list of major authors considered by different reviewers be enough as an additional answer?


  • Are you looking for authors who normally go by all three names? Most people in the US in the twentieth century have three names, but don't necessarily use all three. Several authors on the list for example are usually referred to be something shorter than their full three names, such as J D Salinger or E L Doctorow, who normally use just initials or Stephen King or Robert Heinlein who are usually just referred to by their first and last names (or perhaps with a middle initial, such as Robert A. Heinlein). Some on the other hand, are generally referred to by their full three names, such as Erle Stanley Gardner or Robert Penn Warren. Is the latter category what you are looking for? Also there are some on the list with van as one of the words. This is usually considered part of the last name, not a separate middle name.


  • No specific genre. Just twentieth century American male writers/authors.


  • Sorry for the typo what I actually mean by:

    "The site I mentioned above are only two sites which I looked and the
    last one has the most extensive list I could find right now."

    Should actually be:

    "The site I mentioned above are not the only two sites which I looked and the
    last one has the most extensive list I could find right now."


  • The link provided is interesting but is not a complete source, I'm afraid several best selling authors are missing from the list. My own example : Earl Stanley Gardner , Mickey Spillane just two from that genre. There are many others missing from this list. My question is, is this the only place you searched? If so, I believe the list you provided could be missing several authors.
    Thanks,

    Herb


  • Hi! Thanks for an interesting question.

    I have found the following authors with three word names.

    William Carlos Williams
    http://fathom.com/story/story.jhtml?story_id=17249

    Robert Penn Warren
    http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?prmID=17

    John Crowe Ransom
    http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?prmID=12

    The American Authors website provides a great list of American Authors. I have taken a list for the 20th century only.
    Victor Francis Calverton
    John Van Druten
    Alfred Bertram Guthrie, Jr.
    Francis Otto Matthiessen
    Philip Gordon Wylie
    Jonathan Worth Daniels
    James Gould Cozzens
    Walter Dumaux Edmonds
    James Thomas Farrell
    Issac Bashevis Singer
    Robert Penn Warren
    John Dickson Carr
    Robert Penn Warren
    Robert Ervin Howard
    Jesse Hilton Stuart
    Robert Anson Heinlein
    James Albert Michener
    Frank Callan Norris
    Paul Hamilton Engle
    Frank Gill Slaughter
    August William Derleth
    Walter van Tilburg
    Chester Bomar Himes
    Wright Marion Morris
    Herman Northrop Frye
    William Motter Inge
    John Frederick Nims
    John Richard Hersey
    Ralph Waldo Ellison
    Haward Melvin Fast
    Budd Wilson Schulberg
    John Horne Burns
    Frank Garvin Yerby
    Peter Robert Viereck
    John Malcolm Brinnin
    John Holbrook Vance
    William P ne du Bois
    Robert Edwin Lee
    Jerome David Salinger
    Richard Purdy Wilbur
    William Thomas Gaddis
    Archie Randolph Ammons
    James Patrick Donleavy
    James Arlington Wright
    Edward Franklin Albee
    Stanley Lawrence Elkin
    Bruce Jay Friedman
    Edgar Lawrence Doctorow
    Robert Lowell Coover
    Imamu Amiri Baraka
    William Melvin Kelley
    Arthur Lee Kopit
    Ishmael Scott Reed
    John Winslow Irving
    Stephen Edwin King
    William Ford Gibson

    Birth and death dates are also available from the websites plus more links to biographical information and literary works.
    “American Authors on the Web”
    http://lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/AmeLit.html#1900

    Search terms used:
    American Authors list "20th century"

    I hope these links would help you in your research. Before rating this answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if you would need further information.
    Thanks for visiting us.

    Regards,
    Easterangel-ga
    Google Answers Researcher


  • Stephen Jay Gould. (Didn't write any fiction.)

    jeremymiles-ga


  • Hi again! Do you prefer a particular genre as well so as to narrow the topic a bit.


  • Don't forget
    F. Scott Fitzgerald
    and
    e.e. cummings.
    (if you want to cheat with initials)


  • Only authors that go by all three names. As you pointed out many have 3 names but use only two. I was looking for those that use all three names.
    Thanks