The BURIED Book Club discussion

A little something, a Folder, for those Books and Authors which/who are not really BURIED, but have an aroma so damn similar. I few parameters to indicate what I understand should go here.

1 FIRST and foremost, these should be stellar books/authors which/who in a sane world which values ARTISTic aspiration and creation should be read by all those interested in the Literary ARTS. Like reallyreally GREAT stuff, stuff for the elites, the SNOBs, the preTENTious ; that kind of stuff. Darconville’s Cat, Women and Men, that kind of thing.

2 These should be books/authors that/whom you’ve actually read and are advocating on behalf of ; not merely what you are curious about due to some well-founded suspicion that something is being missed (per the usual BURIED practice).

3 I’d like to see this FOLDER being used mostly by active Spade=Wielders ; but I don’t mean that to be an exclusionary thing ;; just that it would simplify my MOD=duties if this FOLDER is used by those with a thorough practice in and familiarity with the BURIED.

4 I’ll be heavily=MOD’ing this Folder until we figure out what we want to do with it.

5 Books/authors probably won’t be of the gr=Author type (in fact, please try to exclude these, unless the Author account is totally inactive, like Wendy Walker for instance) -- the idea here is that we want to adVOCate for books no one else is adVOCating, so probably nothing pub’d in the past few years, for instance. (this is getting tedious ; but don’t worry -- I want only to describe, not legislate).

6 Books/Authors may be from the years following our ORTHOdox cut-off line of 1985 ; books may have more than the standard 30-40 ratings (etc etc) because, it’s more than just underread (or whatever) BUT that our literary culture is MAJORly missing out because this book/author should really have SATURATED our literary world. (But seriously, if it’s got 200+ratings/100+reviews, does it really belong here?)

7 While our regular practice has been Author=Oriented, here I assume there will be single books galore from an otherwise widely ACKnowledged Author which needs some attention.

8 This is a Wild=Hype zone.

9

10

11 a little help?

12 don’t hesitate to use this thread as a May I ADD please? thread.

13 but the number one (and number 13) criteria/parameter is that the book/author have that certain aroma about it which resembles the BURIED aroma. I don’t think we need to be professional Nose’s to id this aroma, but it does develop with practice. Start sniffing!!

I've practickally subvented the heap o' spades gathering dust by the capitated whippoorwill in the corner there, as to GD. PLEASE buy and read the next Guy Davenport the toe of your boot catches against. The stories OR essays. The poetry and artkritikismo, of course, as well, though it be rarer than that which is already rare. PLEACE. I recommend for starters Tatlin! and Objects On A Table.

Today I read Adelbert von Chamissos 80 page novella "Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte". Apparently people have been crazy about it in the first half of the 1800s and it even inspired some phrases and many other authors (Thomas Mann among others, and apparently Marx and Wittgenstein make reference to it).
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Sc...

It has about 650 ratings, but only 15 or so reviews in English, which is why I thought that, in comparison to its popularity 200 years ago, makes it somehow buried. Be that as it may, it's a fun read!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Henry wrote: "Today I read Adelbert von Chamissos 80 page novella "Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte". "

Knot BURIED at all! I couldn't even say that it's underread (by my lights). 659 ratings · 45 reviews & 103 editions(!) (and 15 english reviews is pretty healthy).

But I'll keep my eyes peeled for anything with "Schlemihl" in the title.

My senses might still have to adjust to this group. Also I failed to see the vast number of editions.

Henry wrote: "My senses might still have to adjust to this group. Also I failed to see the vast number of editions."

You worry about finding books and stuff ; let me worry about these arbitrary criteria and their interpretation and application and all the rest of that tedious stuff!

Sounds like a perfect division of labour to me.

I'm just going to mention this book here, in this thread, once, without attempting to create any new threads, until someone reads the book and backs me up. It's probably anathema to the group, being genre literature, pulp, once-upon-a-time widely read, still reviewed by thousands, and non-canonical. But I can't figure out why. Read mainly by black folks who won't mention it at any gathering of Ivy-league types, i.e., even its readership is partially ashamed of it, yet it's a book that must be read:

Pimp: The Story of My Life.

I think the book probably should somehow someday get shoehorned into our Western Canon, but the main thing I can say against it is that the author was extremely inconsistent... he wrote maybe one other strong book, a few mediocre ones, and some really worthless ones. But Pimp stands alone.

Zadignose wrote: "Pimp: The Story of My Life."

I knew this new policy would turn out to be a mistake....

LOL

Zadignose wrote: "LOL"

No but it's probably damn good or something....

Zadignose wrote: "LOL"

Also ::

Books mentioned in this topic
Darconville’s Cat (other topics)
Women and Men (other topics)
Pimp: The Story of My Life (other topics)

Alright, not a buried book, but buried in terms of respect by literary minded folks... someone give it a try is all I'm saying. Even trash it if necessary.

Pimp is on my pile of books to read since summer, but I have not gotten around to it. I read Iceberg Slims Mama Black Widow two years ago and thought it was great.

I think I haven't read that one!

Not to derail the Iceberg Slim discussion, but:

Incidentally Wendy Walker is not inactive, she just keeps a low but charming profile. She's actually a member of this group. That said, we should all be reading her books.

Nate D wrote: "Incidentally Wendy Walker is not inactive, she just keeps a low but charming profile."

A model gr author, really.

Hello everyone, I (Wendy Walker) am here, very active although not online all that much. Thanks for the thumbs up! I enjoy reading your posts, and keep meaning to suggest some books... I'll try to participate less passively in the new year.

Hello Wendy! Always good to see you around, in these parts, in print, or otherwise.