Jeri says,

"Communication's important, but it's not what makes good writing. Well, it does in technical writing. I understand maybe that appeals to some, but I still sort of like creativity."

I dunno Jeri, if you are not communicating, then nobody is going to continue reading. It doesn't matter how creative and original your thoughts are; if you don't communicate them, then your readership has fallen asleep after the second paragraph.

And Little Hawk, Did you ever read Sir Nigel, or The White Company? Such a dreary load of CRAP and Sir Arthur thought they were his best works. His Sherlock Holmes books were good though.

Some authors seem to have one masterpiece in their life which stands out amongst a lot of mediochre work.

For instance, did Tom Sharpe write anything better than "Wilt"
or did Brian Callison write anything better than "Trapp's War"

Although they both wrote other books that were OK. did they contain "the absolutes of good writing".