I think E.M.Forster should have won one, he was nominated for 16 times or something (can’t remember the exact number), and I really like his style. His stories might not be very creative plot-wise, but I like the themes he dealt with and the subtlety in his writing, and I always find his characters’ thoughts and emotions so relatable, in a ‘that’s exactly what I want to say only I couldn’t express it so well’ sort of way. My favourite novel by him is A Room with a View, and I’ll always have a soft spot for George and Lucy and Florence.
At the end of the day, the swedish academy are simply 18 literature nerds who meet and discuss what books they like over glasses of wine. For all its prestige, I don’t think the Nobel prize for literature should be taken as some sort of “literary canon”
In recent years? Marilynne Robinson should have won instead of Bob Dylan. It was a publicity stunt. It’s like giving the Heismann Trophy to Simone Biles — she’s the best at what she does, but what she does isn’t what that award is for.
Henry Miller
I’d nominate Vonnegut, personally
Octavia Butler
Also, I second the not-very highly mentioned Kurt Vonnegut.
For a long time I’ve thought that John Le Carre should have won a Nobel. I don’t care to defend that position, though.
Leonard Cohen should have won over Bob Dylan.
M. Somerset Maugham. I know, but I love his work.
Guimarães Rosa, 100%.
Eli Weisel
I don’t see him mentioned in the west much, but Faiz Ahmad Faiz was one of the greatest poets in the Urdu language and is popular both in Urdu and in translation across the subcontinent. IIRC he was nominated for a Nobel the year he died.
Chekov, Borges, Tolstoy, Joyce, Kundera, and a lesser known Indonesian author named Pramodya Ananta Toer.
Allama Iqbal
Philip Roth
William Luther Pierce
Rush Limbaugh
Howard Stern
Evelyn Waugh
Danielle Steel