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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Second-hand treasure

at the scarwash

01:37 / 11.02.03

Who are some novelists you've discovered that no one else knows about, that are largely forgotten, and that you consider to be worthy of rehabilitation. Imagine that we are the editorial board of Barbelith House, and we have an imprint devoted to reissuing lost classics. What are they?

Some of mine: (actually still in print, for the most part)

Symons, A. J. A. The Quest for Corvo: An Experiment in Biography. Frederick Rolfe, the self-styled Baron Corvo, was a turn of the century writer and international mooch whose outlandish prose prompted Symons to attempt to piece together a story of this very bizarre man. Alternately a prissy would-be priest (and pope--his novel Hadrian VII is a fantasy of his ambitions in that direction) and a conniving scam artist, Rolfe is one of the most intriguingly egomaniacal characters I have ever discovered (for $.50, in a first edition, no less). Symons has great fun with him, prompting one to wonder if Corvo might be a grand literary joke.

Smith, Cordwainer. Complete works. His stuff is being reprinted, but is pretty difficult to find. Most people here have probably heard of him, but I think that he is direly underrated. His Instrumentality stories are a touchstone for anyone interested in the world-building aspect of science fiction. One of the most lush universes ever created in the sci-fi genre. Paul A. Linebarger (his real name) also held a PhD professorship at Johns Hopkins in Asian Studies, and wrote the first handbook of psychological warfare.

13:06 / 11.02.03

My favourite author during my last years of high school was J.P. Donleavy. In the "Top 100 books of the 20th century" list, his first, The Ginger Man was number 99. Which really seemed to suit him, as he's almost completely unknown but not quite. He's an American author who moved to Ireland in the 1940s, and aside from a year or two in the 1950s, stayed in Ireland.

A lot of his books are strange in a bad way, with a recurring theme of nannies seducing little boys, but The Ginger Man is a great read, detailing the adventures of an American student in Dublin in the 1950s, with drunken escapades, womanizing, and kangaroo suits.

Other worthwhile books by him are:

The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazaar B which follows the life of a rich Paris boy from birth to age 30 or so, (who of course ends up in Dublin in the end and is seduced by his nanny, age 12 or so)

Meet My Maker, The Mad Molecule; short stories, including one of my favourites "Wither Wigwams" which is about him fleeing America in the 50s, hiding in a wigwam in his room to hide from America, and running back to the paradise that is Ireland.

The Saddest Summer of Samuel S; (see a pattern in the titles?) A novella about The Sad Summer of an American in Vienna.

14:45 / 11.02.03

Today he may be trendy as fuck with all his books coming back into print, but i remember getting into Philip K Dick as a teenager and having real trouble getting hold of his stuff anywhere outside well stocked second hand shops and libraries.

15:31 / 11.02.03

He may be the archetypal "unheralded sci-fi writer with cult following", but I had a lot of 'fun' in my teenage years seeking out and slowly acquiring the works of Robert Sheckley.. which are still completely un-reprinted..

Also, it would be nice to be able to actually easily acquire the works of all the pre-Lovecraft early 20th C. horror luminaries such as William Hope Hodgeson, Arthur Machan, Clark Ashton Smith etc. I mean, there's the odd overpriced small press edition, but if you want to read those guys (and I do), it's still largely a case of obsessively searching second hand shops..

16:54 / 11.02.03

I like Barbara Pym, who I believe is fabled for having been neglected by her publisher for twelve or so years and then rediscovered in the wane of her life. The only thing is, I found that the quality of her novels did decline successively... the three that were published in the second wind are just not very good, in my opinion. I thought Quartet in Autumn was awful... oh look, it says here that it was a Booker Prize finalist. So what do I know. But the early ones I think are very good and really pleasurable to read: Some Tame Gazelle, Excellent Women, and Jane and Prudence, if you like books about nice ladies getting together tea and things.

23:00 / 11.02.03

I've always held a dear place in my heart for Jan Potocki, the Polish Count who wrote The Manuscript found in Saragossa. I believe it's the only novel he wrote, mores the pity, but, well, it's just really, really good, and chock full of occult symbolism for the MagickidsTM out there.

14:24 / 12.02.03

Also, it would be nice to be able to actually easily acquire the works of all the pre-Lovecraft early 20th C. horror luminaries such as William Hope Hodgeson, Arthur Machen, Clark Ashton Smith etc.

To reply to my own post - what a coincidence. I just found an ancient looking copy of Machen's 'Holy Terrors' in a Uni book sale for an incredible 50p! Yee-hah!

21:24 / 12.02.03

For Barbelith's many Iain M. Banks Culture fans, I'd love to see editions of John Varley's short story collections re-released: The Barbie Murders and Other Stories, In The Hall of The Martian Kings and The Persistence of Vision.

Varley was way ahead of Banks (and obviously a big influence) with his futuristic society of sophisticated, omni-sexual, drug-taking, sex-changing, head-shrinking Commies, but where Banks tends to focus on war and weapons, aggressive politics, massacres, cruelty, regret and the inherently violent nature of humans, Varley has a 'softer', more Sociological approach; he looks at what it means to grow up in a society like this, what sort of familial relationships develop, the belief systems that bind or seperate individuals and the (often quite mundane) hopes and dreams of its members. All of his stories are suffused with a sort of bittersweet sadness. I think I prefer Varley to Banks - he's more of a left-wing Bradbury to Banks' left-wing Heinlein.