GordonCooks Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Alan Greenspan Oh, I loved Dr.Zhivago! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sneakeater Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Dr. Johnson, of course, of course. Another writer who's not primarily a novelist, though. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sneakeater Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Henry Roth Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sneakeater Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Buglakov (at least in the West) (also posthumous, I guess) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
g.johnson Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 There are plenty of novelists who are now known primarily for one work. Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, John Bunyan, Horace Walpole, Bram Stoker*. * Which reminds me: Mary Shelley. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rich Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 NORA JOHNSON Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mongo_jones Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Herman Melville. he may be identified with only one by the hoi polloi (cf. physicists) but he wrote a bunch of good stuff. actual one hit wonder: david foster wallace Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wilfrid Posted May 1, 2012 Author Share Posted May 1, 2012 Sylvia Plath: I guess I'd exclude people who died young for whatever reason. She was 30 when she died, as was Emily Bronte. That excludes Toole as well, doesn't it? I guess so. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wilfrid Posted May 1, 2012 Author Share Posted May 1, 2012 Oh, fucking Tolkien. Isn't he either a two- or a four-novel author? (You're going to be hearing so much about The Hobbit in the upcoming years that it's going to make you puke.) Yes, silly me: The Hobbit is the better book in so many ways. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wilfrid Posted May 1, 2012 Author Share Posted May 1, 2012 Henry Roth No, after a long pause, he came back with a multi-volume late work. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wilfrid Posted May 1, 2012 Author Share Posted May 1, 2012 Do we consider Young Torless to be read? Yes. In the sense that Musil would be remembered, if only among German readers, if he hadn't written MWQ. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sneakeater Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Henry Roth No, after a long pause, he came back with a multi-volume late work. Sure. But, at least as compared to Call It Sleep, how many people read it? (I guess I'm confused about the criteria here.) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wilfrid Posted May 1, 2012 Author Share Posted May 1, 2012 I didn't mean to muddy the waters by suggesting we count writers who, although they wrote a number of novels, are remembered today only for one. I was just covering off the fact that even the genuine one hit wonders may have made a stab at a follow-up or even had something else published. The difference is subtle, but I think valid. Mary Shelley wrote a bunch of novels, as did Melville (and his are still read). Defoe - it depends how you count the plague journal, which is certainly still read. It's presented as non-fiction, but I think it's invention. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wilfrid Posted May 1, 2012 Author Share Posted May 1, 2012 (I guess I'm confused about the criteria here.) It is confusing. I am hopeless. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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