(Untitled)

[cacophonesque]

o1. Absalom, Absalom!, William Faulkner
o2. The America Play and Other Works, Suzan-Lori Parks
o3. The Arabian Nights, trans. Husain Haddawy
o4. The Bacchae of Euripides, Wole Soyinka
o5. Cloud Nine, Caryl Churchill
o6. Complete Plays, Sarah Kane
o7. The End of It, Mitchell Goodman
o8. The House of Incest, Anais Nin
o9. House of Leaves, Mark Z.

Comments

[3g0]

Top five works of non-fiction.

[cacophonesque]

Art Objects: Essays on Ecstasy and Effrontery, Jeanette Winterson
Making History, Michael Long
Beyond Belief, Elaine Pagels
Prague Pictures, John Banville
Going Solo, Roald Dahl

Hello.

[dryride]

I may be confused here, but have you applied before? Your name looks familiar.

Second, if you could, top five underrated writers and what work of theirs you would recommend.

Re: Hello.

[schwarzes_herz]

I can guarantee that they haven't applied before (at least not with this user name).

I get the feeling I'm about to feel very stupid.

[dryride]

I've some involvement in other communities, and I know I know this person, I just can't place.

I'm pretty sure I could find out where very easily, but goddamn I'm lazy.

Thanks for the clarification.

Re: Hello.

[cacophonesque]

You took over mod duties at booklisters a while ago, right? I've been there since the community started, so perhaps that's what you're thinking of.

As for the second part, this is quite a difficult challenge! Underrated in what way and by whom? It was easy for me to think of underrated works by writers who are highly regarded, or underrated works by writers who aren't particularly good... but, I offer the following:

1. Charles Mee: Mee is a playwright who has been engaging in "the (re)making project." He's doing innovative and experimental work in writing for the theater, and I think that because he's working in a form that isn't popular in the way that the novel is, he's not all that well-known. I like how he explores the poetry and drama of language itself, and how he allows the mundane and vulgar to infect his work. In particular, I'm a fan of his re-visioning of classical Greek tragedies for modern times. Iphigenia 2.0 is an example of this that I'd suggest. He publishes his plays at his website

Yes.

[schwarzes_herz]

It's funny; your list doesn't contain a lot that excites me, particularly, but it's interesting and varied, and I like that. Plus, I like you. You talk about books very well, but without any sort of pretense, and you seem like a nice person.

Re: Yes.

[cacophonesque]

Thank you.

I really dislike pretension when it comes to literary discussion. Too often people get bogged down in trying to impress each other and forget to enjoy the excitement of innovative language or the beauty of form. It's something that I encountered a lot in my classes at university--discussions had more to do with the student's ego than the literary form.

[installmentplan]

Why the Lais over other folkloric and legend-based pieces? That is, why would you pick that in preference to, say, the Mabinogion or the bits by Chrétien de Troyes?

Have you paged through Italo Calvino's Italian Folktales at all? You may enjoy it.

[cacophonesque]

There are a lot of reasons that I love the Lais. I think that one of the biggest reasons that they stand out to me when compared to other folkloric and legend-based pieces is the focus on love and personal needs instead of chivalry, heroism, or society, and there is no universal moralizing. This privileging of the personal over the political is unusual for the period, and for the broader "genre" of the romance/folktale/legend. Her lais are concerned with the internal world, sometimes as it relates to the external/social world, but the internal nonetheless

Yes.

[installmentplan]

Your careful, considered responses are lovely to read. I'm also particularly excited to hear you enjoy Bruno Schulz as The Street of Crocodiles was one of the best books I read last year.

Re: Yes.

[cacophonesque]

Thank you. It's been wonderful having a chance to reflect on the books that I like. And I've enjoyed the challenge of trying to articulate my thoughts to others.

[neddy_s]

Well I'm not going to vote, since you're already getting almost all yeses, and since I don't understand you at all, but I wanted to say I'm tickled that Harris Burdick made your list. I love that book.