The Times just published its list of the men and woman who compose the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. While we could debate each writer’s specific ranking, since I’m sure we all have particular favorites we’d like to move up the list (or in the case of certain writers, down), the choices appear fairly intelligent for once. I usually get angry quite quickly when skimming such lists, but in this case, my initial reaction was acceptance, rather than anger or denial.

Of course, I reserve the right to change my mind after I examine the complete list more fully.

The top 10 are:

1. Philip Larkin
2. George Orwell
3. William Golding
4. Ted Hughes
5. Doris Lessing
6. J. R. R. Tolkien
7. V. S. Naipaul
8. Muriel Spark
9. Kingsley Amis
10. Angela Carter

Larkin surprised me in the #1 spot. Even though I love his poem “This Be the Verse,” and quote it often, I hadn’t realized he was quite that highly regarded over on the other side of the pond.

As for other writers on the list, I anticipated that Roald Dahl (#16) and J. G. Ballard (#27) would be there, but I’m pleasantly surprised to see that Mervyn Peake (#18) and Michael Moorcock (#50) made it as well.