I think for greatest you need works that work at many levels and which are read by as wide an audience as poss. It also helps if the writer has more than one book that people rave about.
Bradbury - I read F451 and enjoyed it (and it stuck in my mind) but although I've read other Bradbury I don't remember them without recourse to google/wikipedia. Therefore I consider Bradbury to be almost a 1 trick wonder.
I also think it helps if something the author has written has entered into wider popular culture. Pratchett gets a nod here as does Bujold since both have produced quotes that one sees in odd places.
Another possibility is Orson Scott Card. Enders Game and Speaker to the Dead work on multiple levels, are popular as introductory works and have some memes that have entered culture (Speaker to X is one).
Larry Niven isn't dead yet. Lots of stuff there that is well known (on the gripping hand...). I think Niven is more influential that Pournelle in literary terms although in political terms it's the other way around. Niven's non collaborative work is stronger too and better known even though I prefer Pournelle personally as someone to read.
I think JK Rowling needs to write something other than HP and see it also be successful to count otherwise she drops into the one-hit-wonder category.
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Bradbury - I read F451 and enjoyed it (and it stuck in my mind) but although I've read other Bradbury I don't remember them without recourse to google/wikipedia. Therefore I consider Bradbury to be almost a 1 trick wonder.
I also think it helps if something the author has written has entered into wider popular culture. Pratchett gets a nod here as does Bujold since both have produced quotes that one sees in odd places.
Another possibility is Orson Scott Card. Enders Game and Speaker to the Dead work on multiple levels, are popular as introductory works and have some memes that have entered culture (Speaker to X is one).
Larry Niven isn't dead yet. Lots of stuff there that is well known (on the gripping hand...). I think Niven is more influential that Pournelle in literary terms although in political terms it's the other way around. Niven's non collaborative work is stronger too and better known even though I prefer Pournelle personally as someone to read.
I think JK Rowling needs to write something other than HP and see it also be successful to count otherwise she drops into the one-hit-wonder category.