/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.2743561]

itt we recommend books/series other people have probably never heard of

[Anonymous No.2743588]

Are you going to say anything about why you're recommending them?

[Anonymous No.2743608]

The High Life by Jean-Pierre Martinet

"Adolphe Marlaud’s rule of conduct is simple: live as little as possible so as to suffer as little as possible. For Marlaud, this involves carrying out a meager existence on rue Froidevaux in Paris, tending to his father’s grave in the cemetery across the street, and earning the ghost of a living through a part-time job at the funerary shop on the corner. It does not, however, take into account the amorous intentions of the obese concierge of his building, who has set her widowed sights on his diminutive frame, and whose aggressive overtures will set the wheels in motion for a burlesque and obscene tragedy. Originally published in 1979, The High Life introduces cult French author Jean-Pierre Martinet into English. It is a novella that perfectly outlines the dark fare of Martinet’s vision: the terrors of loneliness, the grotesque buffoonery of sexual relations, the essential humiliation of the human condition, and the ongoing trauma of twentieth-century history."

Very short novella that's more like a short story. It reminded me a lot of /r9k/.

[Anonymous No.2743620]

One Minute Stories by Istvan Orkeny

Flash fiction from a well-known Hungarian author, they'd easily appeal to anyone with a fondness for absurdity. Two of the stories:

>"OFFICIAL STATEMENT BY THE SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS"

Thanks to a long and heated debate championed by the members of our Society, the Rabbit Stew and Fish Soup Plant has just inaugurated a new workshop dedicated to opening the newly sealed tins.

At the workshop which is called The Can Opener the newly canned tins of rabbit stew and fish soup are reopened, drained of liquid, and the chunks of meat and fish are reconstituted and taken back to their original habitat, where they are released.

We herewith wish to express our sincere gratitude to the management of the Rabbit Stew and Fish Soup Plant who have at last come to understand the true meaning of humanitarianism.

>"NOVEMBER"

The morning fog was heavy, the traffic slow. The tram had pulled out right in front of Kordova Kordovan's nose. The forty-year old salad chef of the Restaurant Royale stood waiting at the stop. After a while he got fed up with standing around and so, with his right hand he took a firm grip of his left thumb and with a quick jerk, pulled it off. Taking it between two fingers he studied it, wrapped it up in a clean handkerchief, and reaching inside his coat, slipped it securely in the rear pocket of his trousers. He looked around. The next tram still hadn't come. But Kordova Kordovan just shrugged. He wasn't about to get worked up over every little trifle.

[Anonymous No.2743647]

My Tired Father by Gellu Naum

"Gellu Naum is the sole surviving member of the Romanian Surrealists. If we can provisionally annex Surrealism to the avant-garde, he is also the last of the Romanian avant-garde, which flourished so intensely between the wars in journals such as Contemporanul, 75HP, Integral, and Unu -- James Bronk, translator. First published in Romania in 1972, MY TIRED FATHER is an autobiographical collage, an assisted cut-up. In words and diction lifted from old books and popular magazines, Naum demonstrates that desire is a constructive principle -- and that the spirit of Surrealism is not reducible to a period style or rhetoric."

He's not actually alive anymore, but this is an excellent surrealist book. It's sort of the literary equivalent of an album with lots of sampling.

[Anonymous No.2743648]

Any of these pre-1950?

[Anonymous No.2743660]

The Adventures of the Ingenious Alfanhui by Rafael Sanchez Ferlosio

"This is the first English translation of a picaresque classic -- a children's fantasy for adults-- written in 1951. The hero, a magical little boy, goes in search not of his fortune but of knowledge. He meets a master taxidermist, who teaches him the trade. Alfanhui attempts extraordinary experiments - making trees sprout feathers and creating birds that grow feathers like leaves. When his house is burned down, he travels around Castile, learning about colors, oxen, herbs, and other people: a lonely giant in a wood, a puppet who thinks he is a man, and his own grandmother with her collection of mysterious locked trunks. This is a celebration of the natural world through a boy's experiences."

An extremely vivid novel. The fascination with colors reminded me a lot of Bruno Schulz, and honestly, the plot/story of this is so loose you could read the different parts of it as separate stories. One of the most intensely expressive novels I've read, and I think certain scenes from it will always remain in my mind.

[Anonymous No.2743671]

>>2743648
Gah caps, >>2743660 is right on the edge - 1951. And none of the others I mentioned are, though I'm just kind of throwing out whatever.

Were you one of the people interested in that one guy on /lit/ and his translation of The White Ship by Chingiz Aitmatov?

[Anonymous No.2743684]

>>2743671
It wasn't just me, but yes, I was.

If it was published in '51 but written the 40's I can still read it.

[Anonymous No.2743688]

>>2743561

OP, I have read those books, unfortunately because they are awful, YA pseudo-fantasy drivel of the worse kind (and I love my SF and fantasy).

Please don't recommend them here.

[Anonymous No.2743694]

>>2743684
Alright, well, I don't know if he's still doing it, but I got a copy of another English translation of it that I was thinking of scanning. I don't want to shit all over the other guy's work if he's still doing it though. Should I go ahead with it?

I'm not sure if the Ferlosio one would have been written in the 40s or not. The guy was already extremely young (23) when it was published in '51.

[Anonymous No.2743697]

>>2743688
>YA
>torture, rape, murder all over the place
Yeah.

[Anonymous No.2743709]

>>2743694
Well, that guy said he was almost done, and then, nothing.

I say, scan it. Need to get back into Russian and Japanese literature. I'm most likely moving to Japan in August/September.

[Anonymous No.2743713]

>>2743709
>I'm most likely moving to Japan in August/September.
Baka-Gaijin, the economy is about to collapse.

[Anonymous No.2743730]

Richard Morgan - Takeshi Kovacs series

also his fantasy saga, Steel Remains and Cold Commands

[Anonymous No.2745567]

bump for obscure

[Anonymous No.2745577]

>>2743713
I also think this, it kind of haunts me but I have nothing to go on but a feeling. Why do you think it's going to?