Novelists No One Reads Anymore

But the cover says the intro is by another guy, David Louis Edelman.

Booth Tarkington is a GREAT one. Probably looking at old Pulitzer winners is a good way of finding likely candidates.

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Monday, September 26, 2022 5:00 PM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

There was a good New Yorker article a couple of years ago about Tarkington's changing reputation. Here's how it begins:

A trick question: Can you name the only three writers who have won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction twice? Faulkner, yes; Updike. And? Hats off if you came up with Booth Tarkington. And yet his two prize-winners—“The Magnificent Ambersons” and “Alice Adams,” just reissued in one volume by the Library of America—are not even the most commercially successful novels of his extraordinarily successful career. Nine of his books were ranked among the top ten sellers of their year (up there, pre-Stephen King, with Zane Grey and Mary Roberts Rinehart), and the outlandishly dissimilar “The Turmoil” and “Seventeen” were the No. 1 sellers in consecutive years. And then there’s “Penrod,” probably the most beloved boys’ book since Tom and Huck, though I can’t recommend a stroll down that particular memory lane.

There are thirty or so novels, countless short stories and serials, a string of hit plays. And there were countless honors: Tarkington was not only commercial but literary—not just the Pulitzers but in 1933 the gold medal for fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which Edith Wharton and William Dean Howells had won previously. As early as 1922, the Times had placed him twelfth (and the only writer) on a list of the twelve greatest contemporary American men. “Yes, I got in as last on the Times list,” Tarkington commented. “What darn silliness! You can demonstrate who are the 10 fattest people in a country and who are the 27 tallest . . . but you can’t say who are the 10 greatest with any more authority than you can say who are the 13 damndest fools.”

As for booksellers, in 1921 they voted him the most significant contemporary American writer. (Wharton came in second. Robert Frost? Thirteenth. Theodore Dreiser? Fourteenth. Eugene O’Neill? Twenty-sixth.) Nothing ever changes. Some forty years earlier, a comparable poll ranked E. P. Roe and Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth at Nos. 1 and 2, with scores of votes each. At the bottom of the list—with two votes—came Herman Melville.

How to explain this remarkable career—the meteoric ascent to fame, the impregnable reputation over several decades, and then the pronounced plunge into obscurity? If you read all his fiction (which I strongly advise not attempting), you find a steady if uninspired hand at the helm. Slowly, painstakingly, Tarkington had taught himself to write reliable prose and construct appealing fictions; he was unpretentious—always literate but never showy. You could count on him to catch your interest even if he failed to grip your imagination or your heart. And he was always a gentleman.

The article finds that Tarkington turned into a hack as he got older and concludes that "ultimately what stands between him and any large achievement is his deeply rooted, unappeasable need to look longingly backward, an impulse that goes beyond nostalgia."

Good find! As a kid I forced myself through some giant new volume of Penrod since the elementary school librarian said it was only for True Readers or something like that. The only thing I can remember about it was some gag about all the kids bumping into each other and saying "Pardon my bum."

Not to pick on Alfred but those NYRB J.F. Powers volumes have intros by the likes of Elizabeth Hardwick and Denis Donoghue.

David Ely
WIlliam Kotzwinkle
Richard Brautigan

Now wondering how the LoA edition of Tarkington fits in with my reissue rule, does it not really count because they kind of do it because of historical importance? Maybe my rule is BS? Don't really want to discourage people from submitting as many authors as possible that sort of fit, or disqualifying any author since somebody read them last week. Really thread should be interpreted as something like Out of Print or Out of Fashion.

Hmm. Kotzwinkle still going strong.

it's kind of true about brautigan, which is a fucking shame. he's one of my favorites and a big influence on my own writing style. he really got pigeonholed unfairly as a "hippie writer" i think.

do people still read william gaddis?

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v22/n24/august-kleinzahler/no-light-on-in-the-house

do people still read william gaddis?

i plan on reading the recognitions this year

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v22/n24/august-kleinzahler/no-light-on-in-the-house

― Ride On Proserpina (James Redd and the Blecchs)

"Often described a “pugnacious” and a “pugilist poet,” August Kleinzahler’s reputation rests on his jazzy, formally inventive and energetic poetry, though he has also garnered notice as something of a bad-boy literary outsider prone to picking fights with the establishment."

oh look a "fight me bro" poet decided to fight the corpse of richard brautigan

how _unexpected_

so many science fiction and fantasy writers who have fallen into obscurity. spider robinson. harry harrison. both pretty beloved writers when i was in my teens. does anybody remember either of them?

Yes, but mostly in the way that they are good candidates for this thread.

Spider Robinson really forgotten. Can’t remember much about him except that I once thought he had a cool name but then didn’t really like his writing, being especially disappointed by The Sliced Crosswise Timewise Cafe or whatever it was. Seem to later recall some entry about some book in the sf encyclopedia where John Clute said “avoid reading the unfortunate childish introduction by Spider Robinson” or words to that effect.

Harry Harrison remembered mostly as the author of the book the film Soylent Green was based on, Make Room, Make Room! although the book didn’t have the famous punchline. He also came up recently as begin married to one of the sf wives, who had also been married to… Damon Knight? Lester del Rey?

Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon.

Evelyn Harrison became Lester del Rey’s third wife and died when they were in a car crash which he survived.

Harold Brodkey and John O’Hara both were more visible and important when alive than after. Not sure how much self-promotion, when alive, played a role in that.

John Clute said “avoid reading the unfortunate childish introduction by Spider Robinson” or words to that effect.

― Ride On Proserpina (James Redd and the Blecchs)

can't possibly be as unfortunate or childish as harlan ellison's introduction to the american doctor who target novelizations. that thing was a masterpiece of cringe.

i got one! when i was young people kept attributing "those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it" to someone named santayana. i looked him up once. he wrote some novels. i can only surmise that at some point somebody must have _read_ him, that his name must have _meant_ something to someone.

oh, people _loved_ "jonathan livingston seagull" by richard bach when i was young. haven't heard of that one in a while. do people still read paul gallico's "the snow goose"? i only know it through the prog-rock concept album based on it.

oh, and jean m. auel! she wrote the "clan of the cave bear" books. one was published as recently as 2011! also, she's a portlander - i didn't have any idea!

Kleinzahler kind of a tough guy but with a sense of humor and not overly macho, more like a San Francisco James Salter in a leather jacket than Mailer or Hemingway. Or maybe like a distant cousin of M. John Harrison.

Was waiting for Jonathan Livingston Seagull to show up! Couldn’t quite remember the author’s name anymore. In fact have been considering this thread as somehow related to In every 70s US home ever

Auel another good one. Seems to show up crosswords occasionally although I haven’t been paying attention recently.

Thought Santayana was more of a philosopher, didn’t know about novels.

michael arlen
w somerset maugham
e phillips oppenheim
mark rutherford

wsm prob the only one of these with even general name recognition nowadays?

xps to Dan S
got 3 len deighton titles on the 'classics table' in our shop right now 'ipcress file' 'ssgb' and 'berlin game'. sold okay in the wake of TV production of 'ipcress file'

also clive cussler still sells well

Auel literally has whole shelves to herself in every bookshop ime, fair to say people read her books still

i've been a third of the way thru gissing's new grub street for several years, not sure if this counters the thread project or affirms it

it's fine, what it isn't is grabby

James Hanley? I read one of his 70s books a few years back.

I think 'Boy' by Hanley still has some currency as a 'banned' etc book.

Angus Wilson
Nevil Shute
Harold Robbins
Desmond Bagley
Tom Sharpe

I've read an Angus Wilson or two, no idea what his current standing is but definitely doesn't deserve to be forgotten.

He is now more known as the father of scholar, and Homer translator, Emily.

Also had a lunch or two with the Queen, which he recounted, and came up during her becoming.

anybody still reading Wilbur Smith?

"There was a good New Yorker article a couple of years ago about Tarkington's changing reputation. Here's how it begins"

I remember how Tarkington came up as a contrast to William Gaddis in a (poor) review in the LRB of the reissues of his novels.

Wonder if a good way to come up with lists of writers no one reads would be to dig up old sales figures from past decades (something that's equivalent to the pop charts).

Not to pick on Alfred but those NYRB J.F. Powers volumes have intros by the likes of Elizabeth Hardwick and Denis Donoghue.

― Ride On Proserpina (James Redd and the Blecchs),

I'm aware -- I own one of them, bought about 15 years ago -- but you're being unusually insistent considering the top of this thread has no rules.

Denton Welch enjoyed some popularity when Exact Change of Galaxie 500 fame published his books. I think he's a great writer, but I haven't reread his writings in a while.

Welch probably picks up readers from William S Burroughs being a big fan - but I wonder how widely READ (as opposed to name checked) Burroughs himself is these days.

I think there's another category of writers who are definitely not forgotten and certainly still read but are just way less important than they were 30 years ago. People like Graham Greene, Aldous Huxley, even Salinger.

What about the novelist Winston Churchill?—who is not the same guy

i checked out denton welch when i read a john waters book where he cited him as a favourite a few years back...i imagine quite a few ppl have done the same

ok I guess, not sure what you're mad about

― Dan S, Monday, September 26, 2022 10:06 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Ha I wasn’t mad about anything. Just saying that would be a good place to look for thread candidates.

joking around with comrade alph on another thread it struck me -- by wayward train of thought -- that no one reads carlyle any more

isn't he an "essayist"? does he even count as a novelist? yes! sartor resartus is a novel -- a comic novel abt hegelianism! *ilxors hurry off to get a copy*

i have a weird tattered ancient large-size versions somewhere, like an 1890s A3 graphic novel lol, i'm not even sure where from (i mean my family but i don't know which side of which side). i've never got beyond the first page, its humour really REALLY doesn't carry

Re: Alexander Baron, I think he's highly rated in the admitidely niche world of East London literature geeks.

When I did those books by year polls there were a lot of names that kept popping up again and again that I don't think have much exposure nowadays. Georgette Heyer I remember standing out.

Wonder if a good way to come up with lists of writers no one reads would be to dig up old sales figures from past decades (something that's equivalent to the pop charts).

― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, September 27, 2022 5:08 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Bestselling fiction titles (Publisher’s Weekly)

1895
Ian MacLaren- Beside the Bonnie Briar Bush

1896
F. Hopkinson Smith- Tom Grogan

1897
Henryk Sienkiewicz- Quo Vadis

1898
F. Hopkinson Smith- Caleb West

1899
Edward Noyes Westcott- David Harum

Hammond Innes

now and then some of the more literary-minded american periodicals take it on themselves to get one of their um wittier stylists to do a kind of singles column of the best-selling books of 50 years gone, many of which are entirely forgotten

(the new yorker had anthony lane do one in the 90s and james wolcott did one did one for someone, maybe vanity fair, more recently)

anyway even if there's no chance of me soon deciding which of lane or wolcott is the worse writer and the crappier critical mind this concept is good!

ages ago i started trying to read CP Snow but didn't get into it, dunno how much he's read anymore