Name a forgotten writer you think should be revived...

[Arkham House]

...here's a few of mine...Fritz Leiber, mid-20th century fantasy writer...remembered now, if at all, for his Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories, which are cool...but he also wrote many, many of the greatest fantasies of the 20th century...well worth looking up...the two cousins who wrote as "Ellery Queen"--their disappearance has astonished me. I used to go to used paperback places and libraries, and see their stuff everywhere...but in the last 10-15 years, they've vanished...and I thought they were the best of all American mystery writers...but "hard-boiled" has become the "official" American mystery school, so the "classic" Queen qualities are somewhat at a discount...but they're going to come back someday...and for a third--Austin Tappan Wright, author of "Islandia"--a classic Utopian novel, now almost totally forgotten--there's nothing like it, find a copy and devour it...

[Inchworm]

1. Jimi Hendrix

"suprise attack killed him in his sleep that night"

:hi:

[Bennyboy]

2. Richard Brautigan....

One of my favorites of all time. Trout Fishing In America (a book that has nothing at all to do with fishing) In Watermelon Sugar and a fantstic Gothic Western, The Hawkline Monster. Also some great poetry and short stories.

[MrCoffee]

3. YES!

So the Wind Won't Blow It All Away is one of my very favorite novels.

[darkstar]

31. I agree. I've read a lot,

including almost every Braughtigan, and that book is chillingly good.

:hi:

[Westegg]

14. My late mom turned me on to Brautigan...

...so I started to read him as a teen, circa 1980. As I'm trying to finish my first novel now, I'll admit (only here and only once) that he's been a great influence on my writing. The fact that he is "unknown" or "forgotten," or what have you, baffles me. I picked up "An Unfortunate Woman" at the Strand for $3. Three months ago. Haven't read it yet. Thanks for reminding me about R.B. I will take it off my shelf and read it.

I say, like a mantra, a line of his from "Revenge of the Lawn." Totally out of context, and nobody ever gets what I'm talking about, but no matter:

"His eye were like wet wounded rugs."

From the same chapter, I also often say, "Then it was too late for all of them."

Wow, but that cat was first-fucking-rate.

[Bennyboy]

29. My favorite passage is from Trout Fishing...

when he describes the abandoned outhouse.

I can't find that passage but this one is pretty good too:

KNOCK ON WOOD
(PART ONE)
As a child when did I first hear about trout fishing in America? From whom? I guess it was a stepfather of mine.
Summer of 1942.
The old drunk told me about trout fishing. When he could talk, he had a way of describing trout as if they were a precious and intelligent metal.
Silver is not a good adjective to describe what I felt when he told me about trout fishing.
I'd like to get it right.
Maybe trout steel. Steel made from trout. The clear snow-filled river acting as foundry and heat.
Imagine Pittsburgh.
A steel that comes from trout, used to make buildings, trains and tunnels.
The Andrew Carnegie of Trout!



The Reply of Trout Fishing in America:


I remember with particular amusement, people with three-cornered hats fishing in the dawn.

- Richard Brautigan

[Westegg]

81. That's a great one...

...time for me to re-read "Trout Fishing..." !

[darkstar]

30. man do we have a lot in common.

like some stoned Mark Twain.

[BrotherBuzz]

42. Trout Fishing In America is everything about trout fishing

It's all about the journey; the jumping off point; the departure from the story. It may be a lousy technical manual about fishing as it wasn't intended to be one, but it is ALL about trout fishing in America in all its components, nevertheless.

Richard wrote Trout Fishing in America when he lived in my small town. I caught trout that same year under the lumberyard office. It was cool down there under the office, in the shade, plus they had a coke machine up in the milling shed that required a dime and a hefty push on the lever to receive the most wonderful 6 1/2 oz bottle of elixir known to me. Those bottles were worth three cents at the market but as young as we were, we understood a little bit about Karma and returned the empties to the wooden box.

We played a game of trying to determine the name of the city where the bottle originated from by feeling the embossed letters on the bottom. Nobody ever won the game without finishing the drink first.

On one journey to my magic fishing hole under the lumberyard office, a water company man used dented tin can to scoop up earthworm from the water meter box he was working on, offered them to me, and wished me luck. My salmon eggs were old and really dried up, so I graciously accepted the worms; a good omen.

Last time I looked at my magic fishing hole, three rusting shopping carts were residing in it. Times have been better.

[skygazer]

4. There's this guy.... what's his name?

..... I forgot. :shrug:





:hide:

[Fire Walk With Me]

5. Nikolia Gogol.

And Harlan Ellison doesn't get nearly as much notice these days as he should.

[mitchum]

7. I certainly agree with Gogol

[PassingFair]

38. Have you seen "The Namesake"?

It sort of revolves around Gogol...

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/thenamesake/

[Fire Walk With Me]

72. I read the book, and yes, that is when I finally went and picked some out.

[mulsh]

6. Ring Lardner- How To Write Short Stories

should be required reading for all writing programs. find a copy if you can. Here's the first paragraph:


" A glimpse at the advertising columns of our leading magazines shows that whatever else this country may be shy of, there is no lack of correspondence schools that learns you the art of short-story writing. The most notorious of these schools makes the boast that one of their pupils cleaned up $5000.00 and no hundreds dollars writing short stories according to the system learnt in their course. Though it don't say if that amount was cleaned up in one year of fifty"

Fritz Lieber should never go out of print either.

[mitchum]

8. Erskine Caldwell, Richard Yates, Charles Willeford, John Rechey (even though...

he is still alive)

[IndianaJones]

9. Jack Chalker. nt.

[supernova]

10. William Saroyan

Won the Pulitzer in 1939 for "The Time of Your Life."

Always wrote about those at the bottom of the economic ladder with hope, sympathy, and a little love, and dignity. :hug:

Saroyan is the anit- Ayn Rand in that he treats his characters stories' with respect.

[Bake]

11. Upton Sinclair

Because there's definitely muck that needs raking today.

Bake

[momophile]

12. my favorite poet - Mason Williams

of Classical Gas fame. His poetry books rock.

[taterguy]

13. Denise Giardina

I'm not sure if she's as much as forgotten as never appreciated.

She wrote a couple great historical novels about the coal mining wars in West Virginia.

Highly recommended for anyone who wants soulful tales with a progressive bent.

[xmas74]

35. Check out what someone left

at the bottom of her wikipedia entry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denise_Giardina

[LisaM]

15. Colette.

Also, Zola.

[Guava Jelly]

16. The DUer ...Writer

She is playing hookey until Lent is over.

[DS1]

17. Philip K. Dick

hands down

[PassingFair]

39. He never goes out of style.

He is always with us.

[MrCoffee]

68. There's no way PKD is forgotten...Hollywood loves him.

[pitohui]

69. literally billions in profits have been generated on basis of his works

sure can't call dick a "forgotten" writer! it's too bad he didn't live to see the extent of his success, which has to be far beyond anything he could have ever imagined

[Westegg]

18. Is Lovecraft "forgotten"?...

...I read so much of his stuff from about age 10 to 15-- those paperbacks with the mind-blowing covers? (Was that Bantam Books?) I just started reading him again, 30-plus years later. AMAZING. What a thrill to have him back in my life again. I heard someone is turning "At the Mountains of Madness" into a film. About time, but no movie will ever duplicate the true genius of Lovecraft. I feel the same way about E.A.Poe.

[Lautremont]

27. I'd say decidedly not!

In the last couple months, both Cloverfield and The Mist "borrowed" his sort of monster. Plus he's a part of the language - "Lovecraftian" is probably in some dictionary somewhere.

[Westegg]

82. He's certainly in my brain forever and ever....

..and I'm damn happy to have him there!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

40. The Color Out of Space!

Go Miskatonic U!!!

[FloridaJudy]

46. Omigod! I've got that bumpersticker on my car!

[Orrex]

76. Guillermo del Toro is the director

Phenomenal director, with a great sense of the fantastical, and he's been itching to do the film for years. I am confident that he'll bring a worthy adaptation to the screen!

[JeffR]

19. John Marquand

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_P._Marquand

[NightWatcher]

20. Edward Abbey

revived and re-enacted often

[Forkboy]

32. Mind reader.

:)

[wain]

21. Flannery O'Connor

Taken too soon

[xmas74]

36. Not forgotten here!

My daughter was thisclose to being a Flannery. And there is a little girl the next town over who is named after the author.

[wain]

67. I did a term paper on Flannery in college

I knew nothing of her writing when I picked her name and it took a little getting used to how she wrote, especially the type of leading character she used. In the end I really loved her writings and was sorry there was not more to enjoy.

I remember my paper took a quite different position on her writing, but the prof appreciated how I backed it up and awarded an A. For the life I me, I cannot remember what I wrote, but the paper is packed away somewhere.

[xmas74]

75. I've always loved Flannery,

hence the near-naming of my own child after her.

[Callalily]

22. Zora Neale Hurston

Fortunately, her work was rediscovered in the 1970s.

[CTyankee]

23. John Cheever, the quintessential "New Yorker" short story writer.

His "The Swimmer" is probably the best modern short story every written. It is an airtight, bullet to the heart indictment of the smug, upper middle class suburban New York dweller.

[Chovexani]

24. I love Fritz Leiber!

Way back when, TSR did a series of Lankhmar supplements for AD&D.

I FINALLY just managed to track down the couple of Grey Mouser books I was missing.

[Arkham House]

50. Ever read "You're All Alone"?

...it was later expanded into a novel--"The Sinful Ones"--which is an excellent book...but the original short novel is much better, though very hard to find...it can be viewed as an allegory if you choose...but anyway you regard it, it's a great story, my favorite "modern"--ie, midcentury--fantasy story...would have made a terrific fantasy-noir film, back in the 50s...

[Chovexani]

55. Oooh, no

I'll have to check around the used bookstore for it. :hi:

[Beausoleil]

53. As do I!

His Hugo Award-winning SF novels, "The Big Time" and "The Wanderer" are great! I can't think of a writer who is as entertaining as Leiber.

[Donk Yore]

25. Kurt Vonnegut n/t

[Lautremont]

28. Forgotten?

[triguy46]

26. Ambrose Bierce...

IMHO "Incident at Owl Creek Bridge" was at least 100 years ahead of its time, an unworldly story for post Civil War. A classic of the short story genre.


but also Stephen Crane, and Ford Madox Ford. Some Grahame Greene.

[Flaxbee]

33. The Devil's Dictionary is one of my favorite 'references'

Bierce was incredibly clever.

[Flaxbee]

34. Barbara Pym

Excellent Women, No Fond Return of Love, and Jane and Prudence are three fantastic novels. Very witty (in a quiet way) observations of post-war (WWII) England by several very funny female characters.

The writing is excellent, and the books stay with you.

[xmas74]

37. I regularly refer to my copy.

Right now it's in my car. I grabbed it the other day to show to a coworker.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

41. Lin Yutang.

The Importance of Living, written in 1936.
A great book about philosophy, Confucianism and life in general.

Chapters: "The Art of Loafing", "Why I am a Pagan". He was the son of Christian missionaries in China and also wrote the first Chinese-English dictionary. He died in the 1970s.

Also William Somerset Maugham. He wrote "Of Human Bondage" and "Cakes and Ale". Incredibly clear writing, like Tolstoy in translation.


Somebody who's still kicking, and can't get on TV, but has sold over a million books is Stuart Wilde.

The New Age establishment hates him because he has a sense of humor!


And, not a forgotten author, but an obscure work: "LETTERS FROM THE EARTH" and "THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER" by Mark Twain. Not published until the early 1960s because of their skewering of Christianity. His autobiography has some really heavy stuff at the end about the deaths of two of his daughters and the profound questions that Suzy asked when she was little.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

43. Must be cautious here, but Arthur Upfield

An Australian mystery writer of the 1930s-1950s.

Because of when he wrote, his attitudes toward the Aborigines are, shall we see, sometimes cringe-provoking. However, he was probably what passed for a liberal in those days, since he didn't think Aborigines should be exterminated or absorbed into the white population.

Anyway, his main character is a half-Aboriginal detective working for what appears to be some sort of national police force. He is sent out to various parts of Australia when the local cops can't deal with a case.

As a result, you get some marvelous descriptions of the natural features of Australia and the customs of the Outback (among other things, no one seems to eat anything but bread and meat), along with very clever mystery plots.

I used to meet with a book group at the home of an older woman who had been an avid mystery reader all her life. She let us use her collection as a lending library. She had a complete set of Arthur Upfield's books, and we all read them avidly, even as we rolled our eyes at his attitudes.

Understandably, when a writer like Upfield--someone who appeared to think that anyone with the tiniest bit of Aboriginal ancestry would be constantly tempted to strip naked and run out into the Outback--goes out of print, he stays out of print.

However, prejudices aside, Upfield had a true talent for describing nature in a compelling way, and you'll enjoy the plots if you can find the books in your library or used book store.

[tigereye]

58. that sounds interesting, Lydia

I love mysteries with cultural and geographic underpinnings...

[Lydia Leftcoast]

44. For the kiddies, George F. MacDonald, author of

The Princess and the Goblin

Kids who liked Harry Potter and/or Lord of the Rings might enjoy The Princess and the Goblin, written in 1872.

I read it when I was ten, having found it on the shelves at my grandparents' place, and absolutely loved its segue from reality to fantasy, in which a bored princess, exploring an unfamiliar wing of her palace, finds a door to another world. Yes, that's the Through the Looking Glass concept, but without the shape-shifting.

[RainDog]

70. He also wrote In Back of the North Wind

which I remember reading as as child, too. I felt like the world was more magical after I read that one.

Strangely, I came across it again a few years ago when I was doing some work on Victorian bookbinding. Those sorts of books used to be released in a fancy expensive binding with gold stamp, etc. and a plain binding for a cheaper version. I didn't remember he was the guy who wrote In Back of the North Wind until I started getting publisher information.

Tolkien and C.S. Lewis both said that McDonald was a big influence on their fantasy writing. So, yeah, I think you made a good call, considering the popularity of the above authors' work.

[qwertyMike]

45. Jane Austen

the inventor of the Novel.

And Bram Stoker, Addison, HG Wells . . . . Thackery, all they way to Vonnegut.

All hail Jane

Mick

[Lydia Leftcoast]

61. Jane Austen is hardly forgotten

not with adaptations of her novels playing on PBS all winter.

[enigmatic]

47. Sherwood Anderson

"Winesburg, OH" is a masterpiece of spare (but emotionally moving) writing, and one of the greatest works of fiction of the 20th Century:

http://www.online-literature.com/sherwood-anderson/

[mitchum]

54. Absolutely....Anderson was the pioneer of the 20th century American short story

[enigmatic]

77. "Tandy" is just about perfect

http://www.bartleby.com/156/15.html

[Forkboy]

48. Robert E. Howard.

'nuff said.

[Richard Steele]

49. Stanislaw Lem. He was an AMAZING writer who never got enough credit.

There -ISN'T- enough credit, IMHO. His "Ijon Tichy" stories
alone earned him a spot on the pantheon of greats.

[tigereye]

59. my son has loved reading his short stories

my husband has always been a fan of them.

They are wonderfully witty!

[Wcross]

51. Ernest Gann

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51RSKNSQ6XL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg

[npincus]

52. Tom Robbins

[cloudbase]

56. A. J. Liebling

One hell of a vocabulary, and he could really tell a story.

[xmas74]

57. I have bookmarked this thread.

What a great way for me to update my ever-growing library!

[Perry Logan]

60. Peter de Vries - a wonderful comic novelist

[terrya]

62. Theodore Dreiser

Writer of "Sister Carrie" among other classics.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

79. Ah yes. I read Sister Carrie in high school.

Sister Carrie was quite realistic and sensational for its time (1900).

It was far better than the dreck that was assigned reading -- like "Silas Marner" and "Great Expectations". Yuck.

Dreiser also wrote "An American Tragedy" where a pregnant woman was drowned by her lover in a lake (Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks). She was a factory girl (Grace Brown)and he was the boss's son(Chester Gillette).

It was a true story that he adapted. It was a sensational trial and Dreiser saved clippings for years before he wrote the novel.

The movie had Liz Taylor and Shelley Winters in it, titled "A Place In the Sun".

[kentauros]

63. A.E. van Vogt

Worlds of Null A
Weapon Shops of Isher
Slan

:)

[Arkham House]

74. Hear, hear!

...van Vogt is a trip and a half...does any SF novel have a better last line than "Weapons Shops"...?

[geardaddy]

64. Philip Jose Farmer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Jos%C3%A9_Farmer

Especially his Riverworld series.

[joeybee12]

65. Edna Ferber...her writing style is very dated, but still she does bring

alive very colorful characters.

[EstimatedProphet]

66. I think al;l of them have decomposed too much to revive

[last_texas_dem]

71. John Knowles

He's not known for any of his books besides A Separate Peace, but I have read and enjoyed several by him, including Indian Summer, The Paragon, Peace Breaks Out, Morning in Antibes, and A Stolen Past.

[MilesColtrane]

73. Mervyn Peake

Jean Shepherd

Richard Farina

Woody Allen...as a writer

Jean Rhys

Georges Bataille

John Fante

[Tuesday Afternoon]

78. Mazo de la Roche

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazo_de_la_Roche

[Swede]

80. Stephen King books are impossible to find.

Whatever happened to him?

[mwb970]

83. Robert Benchley, James Thurber, H. Allen Smith.

Fuuny stuff!

[Tektonik]

84. Louis-Ferdinand Céline

Journey to the End of the Night is an amazing book

It's too bad the guy was an anti-Semitic dolt.