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Rumpus Book ClubHow to Save a Neglected Book
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.
July 5th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
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.