Who are some of the most underappreciated writers? And I mean more in our sphere than the canonical world. I offer Damian Dressick. He will have a chapbook coming out soon from Spire Press. Read his Pindeldyboz story here.
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Yuriy Tarnawsky. Since the 1960s, the man’s published 30+ books of poetry, fiction, and drama in multiple languages. He’s very well known as a poet in his native Ukraine. His 1993 novel THREE BLONDES AND DEATH is one of the best books that FC2 ever published. And yet no one in the States seems to have ever heard of him.
I’m always trying to get people to read THREE BLONDES AND DEATH. Very few people ever take me up on it. But that’s the novel I’d make people read if I could. (Yes, I have taught it! And will teach it any chance I get.)
You can read some of it right now!
http://tinyurl.com/yj83jsn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuriy_tarnawsky
http://www.yuriytarnawsky.whsites.net/index.htm
Cheers,
Adam
Nice. There is so much. I think I spend more time thinking about what to read than actually reading.
Eric Beeny isn’t necessarily underappreciated, but he’s very quiet and humble and consistently awesome.
“The Dying Bloom” is rad.
http://eric-beeny-pbp.blogspot.com/
seconded on all counts
boosh
Jack Boettcher.
Check out his Greying Ghost chapbook or read his piece at Pure Francis here:
http://www.purefrancis.org/pure_francis/2009/11/better-not-touch-that-horse.html
Also:
Audri Sousa.
She slays me nearly every time.
http://www.abjective.net/018.html
audri gets a definitive ‘double boosh’
Quentin S Crisp: he is being neglected like the stability of the universe depends upon it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quentin_S._Crisp
His stuff is in expensive limited editions. But his novella “shrike” was worth ten pounds (that is 20 dollars?)
He is english.
—
Someone supposed to be established, but you don’t hear much about his work, is Gerald Murnane. His short novel “The Plains”
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Is Rachel Blau DuPlessis underappreciated? She is excavating and scaffolding all the poetry in unique ways.
Here’s an offer to the other persons in this thread: I will purchase and read a book by the author you’ve mentioned if you will buy—or at least read—THREE BLONDES AND DEATH.
And then we can each take a few minutes to write something about it, publicly. Don’t like it? Fine. Even negative criticism is more helpful than silence.
Sincerely,
Adam
Adam, I’m putting it on my list. May be a bit before I can pick up, but it’ll get done and read. I’ll let you know when it goes down.
Hooray!
OK, I’ll check out Tammuz. Which novel should I start with, MINOTAUR or TAMMUZ?
Oops, BROTHERS, not TAMMUZ. Unless he’s like Michael Martone…
I just ordered MINOTAUR from the library.
MINOTAUR is where i started (i ordered it randomly without knowing anything about it or Tammuz), and it blew me away!
i’ve been meaning to post on big other about it.
so far I’ve read three of his works. BROTHERS, as far as i can tell can only be found in SIX ISRAELI NOVELLAS. I also read REQUIEM FOR NAMAAN which was good but not as mind-blowing as the other two. It reminded me of Faulkner’s family tree novels.
Benjamin Tammuz. His novel Minotaur is one of the best novels I’ve ever read. And his novella “Brothers” is one of the best of those. I’m constantly scouring for copies of his work that has been translated into English, most of which seems to have been done and forgotten in the ’80’s.
hm, underappreciated is a weird concept (this isn’t meant at all as a critique of greg’s use of the word). like, i could argue that martin amis is underappreciated because, to my way of seeing things, he’s one of the four or five greatest living writers, and yet, despite the fact that he makes a living off his work, he doesn’t win prizes and the press shits all over him. and harry mathews gets respect and critical raves (at least when the critics bother with him at all) and yet he’s pushing 80 and sells maybe a couple of thousand copies of each book.
if i had to pick one writer who just doesn’t get any of the dap he deserves it would probably be fiction writer/poet/photographer linh dinh. he does this incredible combination of fabulism (in the loose sense — no talking animals), street life, political commitment, and an outsider perspective (influenced by his having come to the states from vietnam as an adolescent). his collection (called stories but arguably prose poetry) blood and soap is a great place to start.
he also keeps a photo blog that you can find by googling him. it’s fucking amazing the way he can make my neighborhood look unfamiliar to me.
Linh Dinh is great.
ha. you’re seriously tempting me to start a game — stump adam jameson.
Oh, there’s tons of stuff and people etc. that I don’t know. Gross tonnage.
But I’m from near Philly. (Long live Philly!)
And I’ve seen Linh Dinh read at Myopic. He’s friends with Kent Johnson, who’s out here in Illinois.
Greg, I’m so pumped to read DD getting some love. His pieces in failbetter and vestal review are awesome, as was his piece in dogzplot. the guy is one of the best writers among us. and a genuinely nice guy.
whether you have kids or not, read http://www.vestalreview.net/issue30/fourhardfacts.html and then let me know if you really want that pool in the backyard
Yes, heard him read this one at KGB, it will be in the new book.
that’s great you saw him read at kgb. going to be a hell of a book.
i think of all the contributors to dogzplot that i get the most reader response from, the most comments and emails about, even from people i know have never read anything in their lives but a dogzplot anthology because i put it in their hands and turned the pages for them…. people love XTX.
her knack for storytelling is amazing. she’s raw. delicate. loveable. witty. dirty. sexy in a perverted, yet heartfelt way. perfect. and flawed. i read everything of hers i find anywhere and i am never dissapointed. so yeah XTX.
also. philly baby, one love.
fuck drew brees. you still aint making the hall of fame.
damn, barry, the guy’s mom killed herself about five months ago and you can’t even let him be happy for a few minutes. a bartender told me that oprah accused him of having smudge near his eye on live TV – turned out it was a birthmark. can someone let this guy have a few minutes of fun?
and yes xTx is wonderful, great pick