Recommend me something uncommon.

[JimC]

The bulk of my favorite writers* happen to also be among the most well known writers of their respective eras. So, most of what I read and analyze in school is just going to be the work of these writers. This is kind of unfortunate, because I'm obviously always looking for more to read. What I'm looking for with this thread are recommendations in the same vein as the writers I like, but not as likely to show up in a classroom or in the "classics" section. Some rare or uncommon gems, you know? Unheard of stories that you happen to find in the basement of a used book store. That kind of thing. Any help would be appreciated.

*Faulkner, Borges, Woolf, Joyce, Hemingway

Also, I would prefer if the writers were of the same era of those I've mentioned. Contemporary stuff is fine as long as it's postmodern. Again, any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[Etienne]

Juan Rulfo, Andrei Bely, Alfred Döblin, André Gide, Paul Valery, Witold Gombrowicz, Julio Cortazar, Robert Musil, Hermann Broch, Boris Vian, Juan Goytisolo, Samuel Beckett, Italo Calvino, Georges Perec, Luigi Pirandello, Eugene Ionesco, etc, etc, etc,...

[Dark Muse]

I have to say Vardis Fisher, he is not very well known, but what I haver read of his I found to be really interesting and thought provoking.

[book_jones]

I would recommend some Donald Barthelme. He's my favorate postmodern writer, but he never gets the attention he deserves.

[JimC]

I would recommend some Donald Barthelme. He's my favorate postmodern writer, but he never gets the attention he deserves.

Funny you should mention, I just got a collection of his out of the library yesterday.

[WICKES]

Try Anthony Burgess' novels. Imo he is the most underrated novelist of the last 50 years.

[kelby_lake]

Les Enfants Terribles by Jean Cocteau. It's a bit surreal but very well written, with great Cocteau illustrations.

[aBIGsheep]

Flight by Sherman Alexie.

I love that book with the force of a thousand suns.

[Kafka's Crow]

Samuel Beckett's novels and poems. Everybody and his mum try to shove Godot in your face which is NOT his best work any way. Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable, Murphy, Watt... these are some of his best works and his poems are even lesser known. The first volume of his Collected Letters is to be published next year, his collected lectures on French Literature were published a few months ago. There is a lot life left in the old dog, as they say. We haven't seen it all yet.

[ThomasBernhard]

Well I have to tell you to read Thomas Bernhard :) Concrete, Extinction, Yes and all the rest...

[Whifflingpin]

John Barth, e.g. "Giles Goat Boy"
Patrick White, e.g. "Voss"
Russell Hoban, e.g. "Riddley Walker"

Three great writers whose works you may not meet in school.

***

"Le Grand Meaunes" by Alain Fournier
"Darkness at Noon" by Arthur Koestler

Two minor classics of the era you seem to be interested in.

***

"The Raven" Peter Landesman
"The White Cutter" David Pownall

Two "must read" books that never feature on "must read" lists.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Charles Bukowski, try Post Office.

[stlukesguild]

So we're talking under-rated Modernists and Post-Modernists?

Boris Pasternak- My Sister-Life...
Friederich Durrenmatt- The Physicists, The Visit, The Meteor
Robert Walser- Selected Stories
Frank Wedekind- The 'Lulu' Plays
Eugenio Montale- Poetry
Julio Cortazar- The Blow Up and Other Stories, Hopscotch
Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis- Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas
Paul Celan- Poetry
Jean Genet- Our Lady of the Flowers
Michel Tournier- The Fetishist, Friday or the Other Island
Augusto Monterroso- Complete Works and Other Stories (essential if you love Borges)
Bioy Casares- The Invention of the Morel and Other Stories (ditto)
Tomasso Landolfi- Words in Commotion
Jean Giono- The Horseman on the Roof
Henry Green- Loving
Thomas Wolfe- Look Homeward Angel, You Can't Go Home Again
Anthony Burgess- A Dead Man in Deptford, Nothing Like the Sun
Gore Vidal- Myra Breckenridge, Julian
Nathaniel West- Miss Lonelyhearts
Robert Graves- King Jesus
Par Lagerkvist- The Dwarf
Stig Dagerman- Games of the Night
Cees Nooteboom- The Following Story

[book_jones]

Funny you should mention, I just got a collection of his out of the library yesterday.

Good, I hope you enjoy it. I always enjoy getting his books from the library because they do not take that much time to read. They're always good when I check out a long novel and don't expect to have time to finish another one before the due dates.