Werid Fiction

[urb]

I'm very interested in studying different styles of writers. But I am struggling to find writers who are a bit avant garde, but who still write nice prose.

Hard to explain what I am trying to find, but I guess I am looking for the literary equivalent of Frank Zappa. Writers who can do weird, but beautiful.

Any pointers greatly appreciated, thank you.

[Gregory Samsa]

Try Haruki Murakami and Italo Calvino.

[urb]

Thank you. :)

[Desolation]

Franz Kafka
James Joyce
Samuel Beckett
Thomas Pynchon
Andre Breton
Roland Topor

[Mr. Pedantic]

I think Kurt Vonnegut is the Frank Zappa of the literary world. It always pleases me when I hear about someone listening to Frank Zappa.

[Drkshadow03]

I'm very interested in studying different styles of writers. But I am struggling to find writers who are a bit avant garde, but who still write nice prose.

Hard to explain what I am trying to find, but I guess I am looking for the literary equivalent of Frank Zappa. Writers who can do weird, but beautiful.

Any pointers greatly appreciated, thank you.

I see a lot of predictable names, although they're certainly all wonderful authors.

You might want to look through the authors on these wikipedia entries: Bizarro Fiction (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bizarro_fiction), and Experimental Literature (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experimental_literature).

More specifically you should try authors like Jeffery Ford and Kelly Link's Stranger Things Happen (http://www.amazon.com/Stranger-Things-Happen-Kelly-Link/dp/1931520003/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1283217887&sr=8-1) and Magic For Beginners (http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Beginners-Kelly-Link/dp/0156031876/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283217919&sr=1-1).

Magic for Beginner might still be available to download for free as part of Creative Commons (http://smallbeerpress.com/creative-commons/).

Here is another interesting Weird Speculative Fiction (http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/tidhar_10_06/) story I recently read by a wonderful Israeli writer named Lavie Tidhar.

[BrunoSchulz]

HMMM...interesting topic and something of a specialty of mine as speculative fiction is my first love.

A lot of very good authors have already been mentioned inlcuding Kelly Link, Jeffrey Ford, Roland Torpor, Kafka, Murakami and Breton.

Others very much worth investigating are of course China Mieville, father of the so called Modern Weird movement and Clark Ashton Smith, an acknowledged titan of old weird alongside H.P. Lovecraft, Lord Dunsany and Robert E. Howard. Other authors of "weird" fiction in a broader sense are Jeff Vandermeer, Michael Swanwick, to varying degrees Neil Gaiman, Arthur Machen, Ted Chiang, Thomas Ligotti (easily the greatest living horror writer in the tradition of Poe and Lovecraft), Angela Carter, Ramsey Campbell, Jose Donoso (in terms of his twisted masterpiece Obscene Bird of the Night), Edogawa Rampo, Fritz Leiber, Richard Matheson, August Derleth (with varying success) and I could go on but that should keep you busy for a while.

Cheers.

[Jassy Melson]

Algernon Blackwood is a "weird" writer, but he also is a wonderful prose stylist.

[TheFifthElement]

Richard Brautigan. He's brilliant. You can read one of his short stories here: http://brautigan.cybernetic-meadows.net/tiki-index.php?page=Revenge%20of%20the%20Lawn%20-%20Stories#Online_Samples

[BrunoSchulz]

Algernon Blackwood is a "weird" writer, but he also is a wonderful prose stylist.Indeed...another excellent suggestion. Others of note inlcude Henry S. Whitehead, M.P. Shiel, A. Merritt, Edith Wharton, Shirley Jackson, Roald Dahl, Wilkie Collins.. weel it depends really on how you are going to define if any the boundaries of "weird" fiction.

[urb]

Thank you to everyone who responded. It may take me a while to investigate your suggestions.

Thank you so much. :)

[scaltz]

Try Haruki Murakami and Italo Calvino.

I totally agree with you. Murakami's writing (UK translation) is so precise, so modern and yet so linear and the pacing is excellent.

[ElBennet85]

Tom Robbins!!Really weird stuff but wonderful...

[Jive One]

One thing I always loved about Zappa was his sheer stylistic diversity. Mixing and matching genres while maintaining solid quality and creativity. Are any of the aforementioned authors diverse in this way as well? Any other recommendations along those lines?

Something about multi-genre/multi-style works always appealed to me in other forms of art/entertainment; yet besides Shakespeare, Arabian Nights, and a few others I've yet to find that in literature.

[hazelk]

You could try Perfume by Patrick Suskind, a very unusual read.

[TheFifthElement]

One thing I always loved about Zappa was his sheer stylistic diversity. Mixing and matching genres while maintaining solid quality and creativity. Are any of the aforementioned authors diverse in this way as well? Any other recommendations along those lines?

Something about multi-genre/multi-style works always appealed to me in other forms of art/entertainment; yet besides Shakespeare, Arabian Nights, and a few others I've yet to find that in literature.

David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas probably fits the bill.

[BrunoSchulz]

You could try Perfume by Patrick Suskind, a very unusual read.I can also recommend Suskind inlcuding his novella The Pigeon, The Story of Mr. Sommer and his short story collection.

[laymonite]

Check out William S. Burroughs, who uses the "cut-up" technique. Also, Donald Barthelme is very interesting--a postmodern mix of fragmentation, but with a concentrated form.