most overlooked/underrated novels & my newfound appreciation of Tolstoy
Here's to some of the most overlooked/underrated novels of all time (whatever comes to mind, feel free to add your own):
(In no particular order. . . )
A Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert
Hunger by Knut Hamsun
The Lover by Marguerite Duras
An American Tragedy by Theodor Dreiser
The Defense by Vladimir Nabokov
* * * *
In the Dostoevsky-Tolstoy war I'm a die hard D fan. However, in reading Tolstoy's (novella?) The Kreutzer Sonata I've discovered a Tolstoy I enjoy a lot more than the Tolstoy of W&P or AK. I also enjoyed his Sebastopol Sketches, so perhaps it's simply a matter of length. In his longer works I find him too verbose and I have difficulty sustaining interest, but his shorter works are quite good.
(In no particular order. . . )
A Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert
Hunger by Knut Hamsun
The Lover by Marguerite Duras
An American Tragedy by Theodor Dreiser
The Defense by Vladimir Nabokov
* * * *
In the Dostoevsky-Tolstoy war I'm a die hard D fan. However, in reading Tolstoy's (novella?) The Kreutzer Sonata I've discovered a Tolstoy I enjoy a lot more than the Tolstoy of W&P or AK. I also enjoyed his Sebastopol Sketches, so perhaps it's simply a matter of length. In his longer works I find him too verbose and I have difficulty sustaining interest, but his shorter works are quite good.
posted by shoshana at 8:04 PM
2 Comments:
Thomas Pynchon - V (Not the stark complexity of Gravity's Rainbow, or the easy read of The Crying of Lot - rather the most fascinating rich read of New York City.)
Philip Roth - So I Married A Communist (Not about nazis, masturbation, or Israel - yet still his best work ever.)
Paul Auster - Book of Illusions (How is this not considered the greatest novel of the last 10 years?)
Anything by Dashiell Hammitt. Damn straight.
(Shosh; next post most overrated? Or most underrated music? Hmmm. Maybe I should do something like that on my own blog.)
W. Somerset Maugham - Of Human Bondage
Herman Wouk - Marjorie Morningstar
How about most overrated and underrated films?
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