(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

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.

2. Bruno Schulz: An inter-war Polish writer who uses beautiful description and dreamlike narratives. He blurs the boundaries of the real and the fantastic. His stories are well-constructed and captivating, but for some reason I have not encountered much discussion of his work. I love The Cinnamon House.

3. Mitchell Goodman: A political activist who was one of the Boston Five, Mitch also was a talented writer. I'm not sure why his work is not more widely known or regarded. He wrote a novel (in my top 20), nonfiction, and poetry. His collection More Light is full of strong imagery and emotion, and mixtures of the political and the personal.

4. Harley Granville-Barker: Although he wrote for the theater, he's typically better known for his contributions as a producer and director. What strikes me most about his plays is the almost novel-esque form of them. His stage directions mestastasize, taking on a life of there own--sometimes evolving into asides from the author and little jokes. A good example of this would be his short play "Rococo".

5. Diane Obomsawin: A graphic artist from Canada who recently released the graphic novel Kaspar--a tale based on the 19th century curiosity Kaspar Hauser. I really love her use of art, and the naivete and wonder that she manages to convey. Her interpretation of his life, and the meaning that she pulls from it are really powerful. However, it seems like her work hasn't really caught on yet. Even my good friend who works in the comic industry hadn't heard of it.

Re: Hello.

[schwarzes_herz]

I hadn't heard of #5, either, but I'm very intrigued! I'll have to check that out. Who publishes it?

Re: Hello.

[cacophonesque]

It was published by Drawn & Quarterly.

Re: Hello.

[schwarzes_herz]

Oh, well hell. That's easy enough. Thanks!

Yes indeedy.

[dryride]

I try to ask open ended questions. It allows me to see what someone will do with it. I'm not looking for anything specific, just a way to get someone thinking.

Looks like I have some more inter-library loans to fill out.

Re: Yes indeedy.

[cacophonesque]

Yeah, I can understand the appeal of an open-ended question--it certainly provides greater insight to the ways that people think and approach discussion. My main problem is just that I have a tendency to begin *overthinking* the question.

I'm not sure if you're the type of person who will read e-books or not. But, if you do, the Schulz is available online in translation, I believe. And there's several of Granville-Barker's works on GoogleBooks. And, as mentioned above, Mee publishes online as well.

Re: Yes indeedy.

[dryride]

There's no such thing as "overthinking" to my mind.

Could you toss me a couple of links if that's not too much to ask?

Re: Yes indeedy.

[cacophonesque]

For me overthinking occurs at the point where I begin to experience a sensation of mental paralysis akin to what happens to a computer when you exceed the capacity of its CPU.

Let's see...
Schulz: http://www.schulzian.net/index.htm
Mee: http://www.charlesmee.org/html/plays.html
Granville-Barker: http://books.google.com/books?q=inauthor:%22Harley+Granville-Barker%22&as_brr=1

Hope that helps.