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#26 2007-03-23 02:16:47
- Incroyable
- Member
- Posts: 2310
Re: John O'Hara
Also definitely Edith Sitwell for the positive list.
Jukebox Babe
#27 2007-03-23 03:24:38
- Horace
- Member
- Posts: 6433
Re: John O'Hara
I do think Bateman had a good point about "overrated". Maybe all of his list could be argued to be true, I just have a hard time believing that O'Connor is one of them. She's such a powerful and unique voice in American literature and I think her writing's profound in a way that you don't see in something like Morrison, Walker, or any of the other overrated writers.
I only know of Shirley Jackson from teh short story The Lottery. What else has she written?
""This is probably the last Deb season...because of the stock market, the economy, Everything..." - W. Stillman.
#28 2007-03-23 07:21:17
- rsmeyer
- Member
- From: Chevy Chase, MD
- Posts: 751
Re: John O'Hara
Back to O'hara: Don't forget that he wrote the short stories that became the musical "Pal Joey".
#30 2007-03-23 15:48:09
- tom222222
- Member
- Posts: 277
Re: John O'Hara
For short stories sometimes overlooked writers (or, at least, famous for work other than their stories): Henry James, Rudyard Kipling Jorge Luis Borges. Anyone involved in the world of New York finance may be amused by a short Henry James masterpiece called The Jolly Corner.
#36 2007-03-23 21:15:54
- tom222222
- Member
- Posts: 277
Re: John O'Hara
Patrick: Maybe I am wrong but my impression is that neither Borges' nor James' short stories are widely read today (you omitted all reference to Kipling, I assume on the basis of unfamiliarity). Borges was celebrated with the first translations circa 1970. I have long since lost a connection with the academic world. But my impression is that now they are not widely read today . And James' stories were out of print until the recent republication in that America whatever volumes (those short fat books. James' short stories comprise a two volume set.) James' novellas on the other hand have always been in print. at least that is my impression. Maybe every one today has read Borges. maybe they are standard collegiate reading. I don't know. I don't mean to quibble. I thought I would give some fairly obscure literature a push. I'm no academic. i just read for pleasure. Any thoughts on "The Jolly Corner"?
#37 2007-03-23 21:49:20
- tom222222
- Member
- Posts: 277
Re: John O'Hara
and actually, I come here to learn things rather than pontificate. Did Borges ever write anything longer than a short story? He had a tremendous vogue when he collaberated on translations of his short stories in the early 1970s. But no one ever mentioned a novel. for the admirers of travel literature Paul Theroux has an incomparable description of guiding the blind writer through Buenos Aries in his book the Patagonia Express. The residents of the city stood by and watched in awe.
#38 2007-03-23 21:54:28
- tom222222
- Member
- Posts: 277
Re: John O'Hara
PPS: I loved the Penrod books. very politically incorrect today, but with judicious skipping they will ring a bell with any 10-12 year old kid.
#40 2007-06-13 05:26:43
- Terry Lean
- Member
- Posts: 2440
Re: John O'Hara
On the clothes front Johnny-Boy is waaaay Anglo.
Yet the Trad guru is a fan of his style?
"One of these mornings
You're going to rise up singing"
#41 2007-06-13 07:43:38
- Horace
- Member
- Posts: 6433
Re: John O'Hara
""This is probably the last Deb season...because of the stock market, the economy, Everything..." - W. Stillman.
#42 2007-06-13 07:52:42
- Terry Lean
- Member
- Posts: 2440
Re: John O'Hara
"One of these mornings
You're going to rise up singing"