Ugly Literature?

Hermanos is a classic Eiseabhal

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Originally Posted by itsmepaul

Ugly Literature?

Hello,

Im looking for something to read which should be in the direction of:
cynical, modern, fast, agressive, insulting.. or grotesque factbook. I can best coin it: Ugly Literature.

Details:


-style: dynamic, fast, not settled at all or longbreathed
-radical ("sick,crazy/")
-humor no problem
-mean in a gruesone way, not splatter, but abstract negativity
-not too trivial, but can pretend to be
-challenging in literary terms (or scientific,etc..)
-dramatic concept beyond theory application must be there (no nouveau roman, expressionism,etc) and/or extremly brutal (no spatter), mean, agressibe, sarcastic, cynic, politically incorrect, or any other negative property.
-not classical
-not emotionally-kitchy, not even the slightest hint
-no lyrical sentiments


Similar to: Victor Pelewin, Irvene Welsh, Charles Bukowski, Thomas Bernhard,Paul Auster,Danielewski, Ellis,
Thompson, Chuck Palahniuk, Houellebeq, Jelinek (partly), and most of all: Bernemann, John NIven, Banksy (genre overlaps no problem)

Absurd or exposing nonfiction as well

york - Dictators-Homes-Lifestyles-Colourful-Despots
kurz - blackbook capitalism


Then its just about how wired the facts are, but they should have a definite negative edge.

Anybody got a clue?

Thanks!


PS: Please refrain from discussing everything apart from the question. Thanks!

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Sounds an awful lot like Martin Amis.

Ugly is in the eye of the beholder. I've never seen a shopping list like yours for ugly. Some of my writing is considered ugly. Some consider it truthtful. You might want to consider a genre known as "hard core fiction" Micky Splillane (sp). Or any of the novels about Parker by Don Westlake (Stark). Or, why not write a short story including all the elements you desire? Try it out.

I recently read Move Under Ground by Nick Mamatas, it's a Keroauc/Lovecraft pastiche but not played for laughs it can be pretty ugly i think. William Burroughs and Ginsberg are in it and the beatnik elements mix really well with the Lovecraft sort of horror.

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Originally Posted by wreade1872

I recently read Move Under Ground by Nick Mamatas, it's a Keroauc/Lovecraft pastiche but not played for laughs it can be pretty ugly i think. William Burroughs and Ginsberg are in it and the beatnik elements mix really well with the Lovecraft sort of horror.

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Also maybe Alan Moore's Voice of the Fire is pretty bleak.

What you're describing is really my kind of thing. I would suggest:

Index by Peter Sotos
Cows by Matthew Stoko
Notice by Heather Lewis
The Sluts by Dennis Cooper
Hogg by Samuel Delany
Eden Eden Eden and Tomb for 500,000 Soldiers by Pierre Guyotat
Suicide by Edouard Leve
The Torture Garden by Octabe Mirbeau
Funeral Rites by Jean Genet
A Sentimental Novel by Alain Robbe-Grillet

I could recommend many, many more, but those are some of my favorites.

Cheers

The Kindly Ones (Les Bienveillantes) by Littell.

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Originally Posted by Bustrofedon

The Kindly Ones (Les Bienveillantes) by Littell.

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A truly rancid book. But yes, it retires the Ugly Cup.

This thread is great; I've been looking for similar things. I read Atomised a while ago and loved it. Would Kafka fit this? I've read The Trial and The Metamorphosis. I had a strange, anxious, nightmarish feeling throughout both (especially The Trial).

Do a few searches for the following and you'll find many writers with the style you spell out in your list.

hardboiled fiction
beat fiction
action and adventure fiction
spy fiction
cop fiction
detective fiction in the 50s and 60s
existential fiction

All of the results will have links to other sites. Also you can add "Short Stories" or "Novels" to all of the above.

Henry Millar springs to mind - Tropic of Cancer or the Rosy Crucifiction. I'd start with Tropic of Cancer.

My Idea of Fun by Will Self (if it's in print).

Bukowski - his poetry, or his novels - Post Office, Factotum or Women.

William Burroughs - Naked Lunch perhaps - his works can be read in several ways & Cain's book by Alexander Trocchi.