Another older writer that had a huge influence on me is Chekhov. More contemporarily, it's hard to say.
Chad HarbachIf you're part of any kind of writerly community, some of those people will have gone through MFA programs, and their thinking leaks into yours. So whatever changes MFAs have made to the culture, it's to the culture as a whole. It can't be pinned down to individual books in a way that some people would like to do.
Chad HarbachGetting your foot in the door with some publishing people can be important when you're starting out as a writer, but it's also not enough to get you where you need to be.
Chad Harbach