Susan Sontag's "truly great, mad books"

[Handler]

I was reading Susan Sontag's essay on Sartre's Saint Genet in which she says that book is not one of the "truly great, mad books." This got me wondering what Sontag would have put in that category, if not Saint Genet. If anyone knows or cares to speculate on what books Sontag may have considered worthy of that dubious honor, please let me know. Otherwise, what gets your vote?

[mal4mac]

I've no idea what Sontag would choose. My suggestions:

Hamlet
King Lear
Don Quixote
Return of the Native
Notes from the Underground
Crime & Punishment

[gruntingslime]

I've brought up this book a couple of times on the forum just recently, Ferdydurke by Witold Gombrowicz. It has an introduction by Sontag. It's a really great book, precursor to existentialism and inspiration to Sartre. It's very satirical, crazy and always border lining surrealism. I recommend everyone who is interested in great world literature to look this one up. I also recommend all of Witold Gombrowicz's other books.

[Handler]

That is really interesting because I'm expecting both Ferdydurke and Pornografia to arrive via Amazon tomorrow. But it was through reading Milan Kundera that I got interested in Gombrowicz; I had no idea Sontag was into him as well. Anyway, that's a nice coincidence.

[gruntingslime]

They are really wonderful books, both redefined my tastes and interests in Literature. The new translation of Cosmos is pretty hard to get your hands on, even though it was only printed back in 2004 (I think) it's a shame that great books like these go out of print so quickly... I found that Cosmos had a very direct and immediate effect on my thinking, Pornografia to a little less of an extent but it was maybe a better book than Cosmos all around. Ferdydurke is much more condensed with ideas I found and it took me multiple readings to realize what a treasure trove it was.

I'm not sure if it would be considered part of this list of "truly great, mad books" but I know Sontag had respect for Robert Walser, particularly the book Jacob von Gunten, which is pretty strange, but also playful and wonderful. I know Kafka was also a fan of Walser as was Hermann Hesse and Robert Musil... you might want to check that one out too. A little note on the side though, Jacob Von Gunten has a very different storytelling style, as does all of Walser's work. It never really gets into the "action" so much as being a compilation of the character's thoughts. I'm a pretty picky reader, but Jacob Von Gunten more than passed the test for me and is one of my top 10.
*Source for Sontag's connection—review on the back of the book :P*

[Handler]

Thanks for your recs. And don't worry - I'm not that hung up on Sontag; I just have my own interest in books where you feel the author has gotten so absorbed in the book that it kind of goes off the rails and becomes something weirder and grander than he/she intended. At least that's my take on what makes a "mad" book.

I've read Walser's short stories but nothing longer. I should try that one.