Who are some of the best writers in the history of civilization? Who should I read for the purpose of getting better at writing?
The answers to these two questions are likely to be different. I think Nabokov is an incredible writer, but I wouldn't recommend emulating his style as a route to becoming a better writer. Still, if you're looking to read a masterful prose stylist, I don't think you can do better than Nabokov. Here's an excerpt from Lolita to give you a sense (although you should be aware that the narrator is supposed to be a pretentious pedant, so that's reflected in the writing).
Cormac McCarthy is another excellent writer, of a very different kind than Nabokov. Here's a bit I like from The Road (which I don't think is a great book all things considered, but it does have some beautiful writing):
When it was light enough to use the binoculars he glassed the valley below. Everything paling away into the murk. The soft ash blowing in loose swirls over the blacktop. He studied what he could see. The segments of road down there among the dead trees. Looking for anything of color. Any movement. Any trace of standing smoke. He lowered the glasses and pulled down the cotton mask from his face and wiped his nose on the back of his wrist and then glassed the country again. Then he just sat there holding the binoculars and watching the ashen daylight congeal over the land. He knew only that the child was his warrant. He said: If he is not the word of God God never spoke.
When he got back the boy was still asleep. He pulled the blue plastic tarp off of him and folded it and carried it out to the grocery cart and packed it and came back with their plates and some cornmeal cakes in a plastic bag and a plastic bottle of syrup. He spread the small tarp they used for a table on the ground and laid everything out and he took the pistol from his belt and laid it on the cloth and then he just sat watching the boy sleep. He'd pulled away his mask in the night and it was buried somewhere in the blankets. He watched the boy and he looked out through the trees toward the road. This was not a safe place. They could be seen from the road now it was day. The boy turned in the blankets. Then he opened his eyes. Hi, Papa, he said.
I'm right here.
I know.
An hour later they were on the road. He pushed the cart and both he and the boy carried knapsacks. In the knapsacks were essential things. In case they had to abandon the cart and make a run for it. Clamped to the handle of the cart was a chrome motorcycle mirror that he used to watch the road behind them. He shifted the pack higher on his shoulders and looked out over the wasted country. The road was empty. Below in the little valley the still gray serpentine of a river. Motionless and precise. Along the shore a burden of dead reeds. Are you okay? he said. The boy nodded. Then they set out along the blacktop in the gunmetal light, shuffling through the ash, each the other's world entire.
Also John Le Carre, and I'll second Terry Pratchett.
We currently have a thread in progress concerning the greatest philosophers in history. This reminded me of a question I've been considering for a while.
Recently I realized that although I've spent a massive percentage of my time for the past few years reading, it's almost always been non-fiction, for example posts on Less Wrong, or posts on other forums or blogs, or old treatises on economics or philosophy. Although I feel as if I've stumbled onto some of the absolute best sources of insight the history of civilization has to offer, and some of the most brilliant thinkers to have ever walked the planet, it strikes me that the main optimization criteria that led to the popularity of most of these pieces of writing and most of these thinkers, and thus the reason they were visible enough for me to run into them, has been a matter not necessarily of the quality of writing style, but instead a matter of the level of insight perceived by whatever critical mass of people brought it to the forefront.
In other words, I've mostly ran into articles and books that have garnered their level of fame not by the eloquence of their prose, but instead by the insight contained within. I've ran into plenty of famous, highly insightful thinkers who just aren't very good at writing. They became famous for another reason: the ideas they brought to the table, however incompetently. This is in utter contrast to another section of the history of writing: what we call "fiction", and in some cases "poetry". Although fiction writers or poets are generally expected to bring some sort of insight to the table, or even a lot of insight, this certainly isn't the overwhelming criterion determining their fame. Most of the scientists who have become famous for their work have been at least decent at writing, or nobody would have been able to get through their stuff (though there are exceptions). In the same way, the great fiction books of history certainly have insight; it's just often not what carries them to success.
In non-fiction, the top contenders are usually there for their insight, though their writing is usually at least decent. And in fiction and poetry, the top contenders are usually there for their eloquence and writing style, though their insight is usually at least decent. There's at least one exception I can think of, where this person seems to be civilization class in both insight and writing style: David Hume. One of the greatest thinkers in history, and certainly also one of the greatest writers in history. Anybody who's read a decent amount of other famous writers and thinkers, and understands some of Hume's key arguments, would at least have some sort of sympathy for that characterization, despite the extreme level of praise I'm bestowing onto his work.
So here's my point, and my question: I'm mostly interested in insight, but I'm also interested in communicating this insight in an extremely effective way, with the most solid prose possible, and the highest level of eloquence that can be attained. For this, I can't simply limit myself to reading the most insightful, revolutionary non-fiction work, as the market test that led to the widespread adoption of this work was not necessarily one of requiring a high level of eloquence or poetic ability. I'll need to read works that became famous for their writing style. So we come now to the question: Who are some of the best writers in the history of civilization? Who should I read for the purpose of getting better at writing?
(TL;DR: I've spent a lot of time reading non-fiction books, but most of these books became famous for their level of insight, and not necessarily because of any sort of high level of competence in writing, or eloquence of style. I want to get better at writing, so although I've ignored fiction for a long time due to thinking my interest was scientific insight and not fiction stories, I've changed my mind, and realized I should probably be reading some fiction in order to learn from the masters of eloquence. So with that said, here's my question: Who are some of the best writers in history?)