What everyone should know before they name drop

Its an interesting phenomenon, but people like to name drop. Especially when it comes to literature. It's usually the people that haven't the slightest clue what they're talking about as well. So here is a break down of some of the favorite literary names to be dropped. At least a small snippet about the authors.

Earnest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway (July 21,1899 to July 2, 1961), was a depressed alcoholic and his works are all depressing. Granted Hemingway had a hard life and saw a lot of violence. From Indian Camp to True at First Light his works are well written and syntactically pleasing, but unoriginally depressing. Hemingway  suffered from  paranoia, and chronic depression. Some believe he also suffered from some genetic ailment, causing him to ultimately commit suicide, like his father. Before his suicide he wrote: The Torrents of Spring, The Sun Also Rises, A farewell to Arms, To Have and Have Not, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Across the River and into the Trees, The Old Man and the Sea, Islands in the Stream, The Garden of Eden, True at First Light, Death in the Afternoon, Green Hills of Africa, A Moveable Feast, The Dangerous Summer, Under Kilimanjaro, Men at War and a number of collections and anthologies.

John Steinbeck 

John Steinbeck (February 27, 1902 to December 20, 1968) received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. Steinbeck's novels and short stories, not always the jolliest of tales always had something more to say.  Characters typically disregarded the standard mores of American society at the time and through  ironic comparisons, and social commentary, he was able to draw attention to aspects of American society that needed to change. Steinbeck is a name to drop, when absolutely necessary  for unlike some of his contemporaries, his works have a significant and productive impact on society. He died from heart disease  and in his life time wrote: Cup of Gold, Pastures of Heaven, The Red Pony, To a God Unknown, Tortilla Flat, In Dubious Battle, Of Mice and Men, The Long Valley, The Grapes of Wrath, The Forgotten Village, Sea of Cortez, The Moon Is Down, Bombs Away, Cannery Row, The Wayward Bus, The Pearl, A russian Journal, Burning Bright, The Log from the Sea of Cortez, East of Eden, Sweet Thursday, The Short Reign of Pippin IV, Once There Was A War, The Winter of our Discontent, Travels with Charley, America and Americans, Journal of a Novel, Viva Zapata!, and The Acts of King Aurthur and His Nobel Knights.