Jack Matthews was proud to learn that his early novella Hanger Stout, Awake was listed by Antaeus magazine as one of the “Neglected Books of the 20th century.” Personally, I think some of his later novels are more remarkable — especially the satirical novel, Sassafras and one of his last works, Gambler’s Nephew
About a year ago I came across a great site neglectedbooks.com which lists previously published lists of book recommendations, and there I found the Antaeus list. It also contains two other lists I know and love from David Madden’s Rediscoveries 1 and Rediscoveries 2, . In Rediscoveries 1, Jack Matthews himself wrote a 2 page recommendation for South Wind by Norman Douglas which is downloadable for free from Project Gutenberg. Ok, the list is below.
Act of Darkness, John Peale Bishop — selected by Allen Tate
Alamein to Zem Zem, Keith Douglas — selected by Paul Fussell
Alfred and Guinevere, James Schuyler — selected by William Weaver
Ali and Nino, Kurban Said — selected by Barbara Howes
Animal House, Jean Garrigue — selected by Barbara Howes
The Art of Making Sausages, Pates and Other Charcuterie, Jane Grigson — selected by Julia Child
Astragal, Albertine Sarrazin — selected by John Fowles
Aurelien, Louis Aragon — selected by Piers Paul Read
An Autobiography, Edwin Muir — selected by Richard Wilbur
The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian, Nirad Chaudhuri — selected by Paul Theroux
Auto-da-fe, Elias Canetti — selected by D.J. Enright
A Bad Man, Stanley Elkin — selected by Stanley Elkin
Basic Verities, Charles Peguy — selected by Eugene McCarthy
Beasts and Men, Pierre Gascar — selected by Georges Borchardt
Beer at the Snooker Club, Waguih Ghali — selected by Barbara Howes
The Blue Flowers, Raymond Queneau — selected by New Directions Classics
The Boarding House, William Trevor — selected by Stanley Elkin
The Book of Marriage, Hermann von Keyserling — selected by Gail Godwin
The Camel, Gerald H. Berners — selected by Edward Gorey
Cards of Identity, Nigel Dennis — selected by Richard Wilbur
The Centurians, Jean Larteguy — selected by Eugene McCarthy
The Characters of Love, John Bayley — selected by Robert Boyers
The Chinese Nail Murders, Robert van Gulik — selected by Jon Anderson
Collected Poems, Edwin Arlington Robinson — selected by Robert Pack
The Collected Poems, H. Phelps Putnam — selected by James Wright
Collected Poems, Ruth Pitter — selected by George P. Elliott
The Collected Works of Jane Bowles, Jame Bowles — selected by Ned Rorem
Confessions, Aleister Crowley — selected by Alexander Theroux
Confessions of Zeno, Italo Svevo — selected by D.J. Enright
Creative Evolution, Henri Bergson — selected by Marvin Cohen
Crossroads, James McConkey — selected by Alison Lurie
The Culture of Cities, Lewis Mumford — selected by Eugene McCarthy
A Curtain of Green, Eudora Welty — selected by Nadine Gordimer
The Dada Painters and Poets, Robert Motherwell, ed. — selected by Virgil Thomson
The Dead of the House, Hannah Green — selected by Willard Trask
Death of a Hero, Richard Aldington — selected by Frank MacShane
Degrees, Michael Butor — selected by Georges Borchardt
The Destiny of Isabelle Eberhardt, Cecily Mackworth — selected by Daniel Halpern
The Devil Rides Outside, John H. Griffin — selected by R.G. Vliet
The Diary of Helena Morley, Helena Morley — selected by Barbara Howes
Dick Gibson Show, Stanley Elkin — selected by Georges Borchardt
Digging Out, Ann Richardson — selected by Alison Lurie
Dom Casmurro, Machado de Assis — selected by Piers Paul Read
The Dying Self, Charles Fair — selected by Robert Bly
Eimi, E.E. Cummings — selected by Dwight MacDonald
The Empty Fortress: Infantile Autism and the Birth of the Self, Bruno Bettelheim — selected by Francois Truffaut
Essays and Introductions, William Butler Yeats — selected by Eugene McCarthy
European Thought in the Eighteenth Century, Paul Hazard — selected by Carlos Fuentes
The Exaggerations of Peter Prince, Steve Katz — selected by Ronald Sukenick
The Exquisite Corpse, Alfred Chester — selected by Ned Rorem
Fade Out, Douglas Woolf — selected by Ronald Sukenick
Fantasia of the Unconscious, D.H. Lawrence — selected by Robert Bly
Fellow Teachers, Philip Rieff — selected by Robert Boyers
The Feminine in Fairytales, Marie Louise Franz — selected by Robert Bly
Fergus, Brian Moore — selected by Alison Lurie
The Forgotten Soldier, Guy Sajer — selected by Paul Fussell
The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, Franz Werfel — selected by D.J. Enright
The Gallery, John Horne Burns — selected by Edmund Kelley
The Gentle Grafter, O. Henry — selected by Dwight MacDonald
The Greater Infortune, Rayner Heppenstall — selected by Edward Gorey
A Green Tree in Gedde, Alan Sharp — selected by Daniel Halpern
Hanger Stout, Awake, Jack Matthews — selected by William Stafford
His Monkey Wife, John Collier — selected by Paul Theroux
The Homeric Gods, Walter F. Otto — selected by Sanford Friedman
The Horseman on the Roof, Jean Giono — selected by George P. Elliott
A House for Mr. Biswas, V.S. Naipaul — selected by Paul Theroux
The Huge Season, Wright Morris — selected by John Martin
Humanities, Desmond MacCarthy — selected by Leon Edel
The Idea of a Theatre, Francis Fergusson — selected by Allen Tate
The Impossible Adventure, Alain Gheerbrant — selected by Frank MacShane
The Inheritors, Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox Ford — selected by William Burroughs
Initial A, David Schubert — selected by Theodore Weiss
The Jargon of Authenticity, Theodor Adorno — selected by Marvin Cohen
The Job, William Burroughs — selected by Allen Ginsburg
The Joint, James Blake — selected by George Plimpton
Journal of a Disappointed Man, W.N.P. Barbellion — selected by James Dickey
Krazy Kat, George Herriman — selected by Clarence Brown
Kristin Lavransdatter, Sigrid Undset — selected by Alexander Theroux
Langrishe, Go Down, Aidan Higgins — selected by Joseph McElroy
Language as Gesture, R.P. Blackmur — selected by Edmund Kelley
The Language Poets Use, Winifred Nowotiny — selected by Fred Levinson
The Last of the Curlews, Fred Bodsworth — selected by Donald Finkel
The Life and Work of Semmelweis, Louis-Ferdinand Celine — selected by Annie Gottlieb
The Life of Captain Cook, J.C. Beaglehole — selected by Geoffrey Moorhouse
The Loom of History, Herbert Muller — selected by Peter Glenville
The Lost Girl, D.H. Lawrence — selected by Joyce Carol Oates
The Lost Steps, Alejo Carpentier — selected by Donald Finkel
The Loved and the Envied, Enid Bagnold — selected by Howard Moss
Man and Boy, Wright Morris — selected by Richard Wilbur
Man and Crisis, Jose Ortega y Gasset — selected by Robert Bly
The Man Who Killed the Deer, Frank Waters — selected by Ronald Sukenick
The Man Who Killed the Deer, Frank Waters — selected by William Stafford
The Man Who Loved Children, Christina Stead — selected by Robert Boyers
A Man’s Place, Ramon Sender — selected by George P. Elliott
The Margin, Andre Pieyre de Mandiargues — selected by Nadine Gordimer
Maurice Guest, Henry Handel Richardson — selected by George P. Elliott
Memoirs of Hadrian, Marguerite Yourcenar — selected by Jon Anderson
The Mind and Face of Bolshevism, Rene Fulop-Miller — selected by Peter Glenville
Mobile: Study for a Representation of the United States, Michel Butor — selected by Joseph McElroy
Money for Love, Josephine Herbst — selected by Elizabeth Hardwick
Monsieur Ripois and Nemesis, Louis Hermon — selected by Francois Truffaut
Moving On, Larry McMurty — selected by Cynthia Buchanan
Mrs. Egg and Other Americans, Thomas Beer — selected by Glenway Wescott
Music in a New Found Land: Themes and Developments in the History of American Music, Wilfred H. Mellers — selected by Aaron Copland and Virgil Thomson
My Friend from Limousin, Jean Giradoux — selected by Philip Lyman
The Naked Year, Boris Pilnyak — selected by Sanford Friedman
Negative Dialectics, Theodor Adorno — selected by Marvin Cohen
Negro Anthology, Nancy Cunard — selected by Virgil Thomson
Nicholas Crabbe, Frederick Rolfe — selected by Alexander Theroux
No Name in the Streets, Kay Cicellis — selected by Edmund Kelley
No Resting Place, Eugene Mirabelli — selected by George Starbuck
The Notebooks of Captain Georges, Jean Renoir — selected by Francois Truffaut
The Notebooks of Henry James, Henry James, ed. F.O. Matthiessen and Kenneth B. Murdock — selected by Francois Truffaut
The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge, Rainer Maria Rilke — selected by Nancy Ryan
Nothing is Sacred, Josephine Herbst — selected by Elizabeth Hardwick
Nothing More to Declare, John Clellon Holmes — selected by William Harrison
Novels, Henry Green — selected by Daniel Halpern
Nowhere But Light, Ben Belitt — selected by Robert Boyers
The Old House, Feodor Solgub — selected by Sanford Friedman
An Old Icelandic Medical Miscellany, Larsen Henning — selected by Brian Swann
On Shame and the Search for Identity, Helen Lynd — selected by Cynthia Buchanan
Orkney Norm, Hugh Marwick — selected by Brian Swann
The Other America: Poverty in the United States, Michael Harrington — selected by Eugene McCarthy
Parties, Carl Van Vechten — selected by Truman Capote
Pedro Paramo, Juan Rulfo — selected by Carlos Fuentes
The Peregrine, J.A. Baker — selected by Howard Moss
A Philosophy of Solitude, John Cowper Powys — selected by James Purdy
The Pilgrim on the Earth, Julian Green — selected by William Burroughs
The Plant, The Well, The Angel, Vassilis Vassilikos — selected by Edmund Kelley
Poesias Completas y el minutero, Ramon Lopez Velarde — selected by Donald Justice
Poetry, John Peale Bishop — selected by Edmund Kelley
Pornografia, Witold Gombrowicz — selected by Piers Paul Read
The Process, Brion Gysin — selected by William Burroughs
The Professor’s House, Willa Cather — selected by Daniel Hoffman
A Progress of Stories, Laura Riding — selected by Kenneth Rexroth
Return to Laughter, Eleanor Smith Bowen — selected by Donald Finkel
Rome Beyond the Imperial Frontiers, Sir Mortimer Wheeler — selected by Emma Swan
Rosa at Ten O’Clock, Marco Denevi — selected by Barbara Howes
Ryder, Djuna Barnes — selected by Kenneth Rexroth
Saving the Appearances, Owen Barfield — selected by Richard Wilbur
Science and the Modern World, Alfred North Whitehead — selected by Robert D. Seeley
Sea of Glass, Dennis Parry — selected by Edward Gorey
The Secret Sayings of Jesus, Jesus Christ — selected by Robert Bly
Sens-Plastique, Malcolm de Chazal — selected by Richard Wilbur
Seven Days at the Silversteins, Etienne Leroux — selected by Paul Theroux
The Slide Area, Gavin Lambert — selected by Ned Rorem
Slowly, by Thy Hand Unfurled, Romulus Linney — selected by Reynolds Price
Smara: Forbidden City, Michel Vieuchange — selected by Daniel Halpern
A Smuggler’s Bible, Joseph McElroy — selected by Georges Borchardt
Some People, Harold Nicolson — selected by Alexander Theroux
The Soul of the White Ant, Eugene Marais — selected by Joseph McElroy
The Story of a Novel, Thomas Wolfe — selected by Cynthia Buchanan
Susan Lenox, Her Fall and Rise, David Graham Phillips — selected by David Madden
Suzanne and the Pacific, Jean Giradoux — selected by Georges Borchardt
Tay John, Howard O’Hagan — selected by Joyce Carol Oates
Terence Duke, Edward Meyerstein — selected by Edward Gorey
Theatre Practice, Stark Young — selected by Sanford Friedman
Themis, Jane Harrison — selected by Sanford Friedman
They Came Like Swallows, William Maxwell — selected by Robert Fitzgerald
The Thief’s Journal, Jean Genet — selected by Francois Truffaut
The Things That are Not Caesar’s, Jacques Maritain — selected by Peter Glenville
Three Wogs, Alexander Theroux — selected by Alexander Theroux
Tibet and Nepal, Arnold H. Landor — selected by Frank MacShane
Time Will Darken It, William Maxwell — selected by Howard Moss
Tobit Transplanted, Stella Benson — selected by D.J. Enright
Torchbearer, Harry Crosby — selected by Brian Swann
Towards Democracy, Edward Carpenter — selected by Allen Ginsburg
The Trapper’s Last Stand, John Yount — selected by George P. Elliott
Turbott Wolfe, William Plomer — selected by Nadine Gordimer
The Underground City, H.L. Humes — selected by Ted Morgan
V.R. Lang, a Memoir, Alison Lurie — selected by Ned Rorem
The Velvet Horn, Andrew Lytle — selected by John Hawkes
The Village in the Jungle, Leonard Woolf — selected by Paul Theroux
Voss, Patrick White — selected by Emma Swan
The Warm Country, Donald Windham — selected by Truman Capote
The Ways of the Will, Leslie H. Farber — selected by Robert Boyers
Who He?, Alfred Bester — selected by Samuel Delany
Wisdom, Madness and Folly: The Philosophy of a Lunatic, John Custance — selected by Joseph McElroy
Within That House, Fanny Sedgwick Colby — selected by Emma Swan
