Three Most Important and Influential Writers of the 20th Century (First Half)

I am going to totally go out on a limb here and list three:

1. James Joyce
2. Sigmund Freud
3. Franz Kafka

One might argue that Freud’s theory lies in ruins, but it is in his great essays where he truly shines. Civilization and its Discontents and many more.

Joyce, really, the father of modernism. No?

And Kafka. The man who truly opened the door to the absurd for the average man. Absurdism, alienation, anonymity, bureaucracy, facelessness, atomism, in short, our modern condition itself, was all presaged by the great Kafka.

Anyone else want to have a go.

Rules:

1. List three and only three!
2. Hopefully confine yourself to 1900-1950, but you can go to 1900-2000 if you wish.
3. Try to defend your choices if you can.