How to Save a Neglected Book

Seth Fischer bio ↓  ·  July 5th, 2009  ·  filed under books

A reader writes to Cynthia Crossen at the Wall Street Journal, “Morley Callaghan is my favorite 20th-century novelist. His “That Summer in Paris” is among the best of memoirs. … Every book lover can list authors who were wonderful and maybe even great (John Marquand, John Dos Passos, Erico Verissimo) but who are gone. Why do exceptional writers disappear?”

The answer, it turns out, is that someone is actually doing something about this one.

As usual, the Internet has the answer. Enter The Neglected Books Page, a site that writes up and publicizes tons of books that they claim are worth saving, like Jetta Carleton’s The Moonflower Vine and Herbert Clyde Lewis’ Gentleman Overboard (I haven’t heard of them either). I think I might make a pact with myself to have one out of every four books I read from here on out be “neglected,” just to make the world a little more fair.

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Seth Fischer's nonfiction has been published in Guernica Magazine and nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His fiction has won an honorable mention in The Glimmer Train Fiction Open. He is Sunday Editor at this here web site, and he’s the founding editor of www.splintergeneration.com. He lives in San Francisco and has a day job where he sits in a cubicle not too far from an albino alligator, a few penguins and some tree frogs. He can be reached at seth.fischer (at) gmail.com or on Twitter @sethfischer. More from this author →

One Response to “How to Save a Neglected Book”

  1. Michelle Orange Says:

    My dad wrote a book about Morley Callaghan! It’s called “Orpheus in Winter.” Those interested can find it here: http://www.ecwpress.com/biographies/john_orange It’s fair to say Callaghan is less neglected in Canada, but I think my dad would agree he has not gotten his due.

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