As a person who likes to read there are two major things that always intrigue me: the unfinished novels and an author writing on novel. For the unfinished book, it is usually the result of the death of the author (i.e. Jane Austen and Sandition, Charles Dickens and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Elizabeth Gaskell and Wives and Daughters). But much more intriguing I think is the one novel authors. In some cases, death is the limiting factor and the novel has been published posthumously. A classic example of the one novel author is Emily Bronte and Wuthering Heights. Although one wonders if a less than satisfactory manuscript existed at one time and had been destroyed long ago. A more modern example is Harper Lee and To Kill A Mockingbird. I guess if you were going to write only one novel, Harper Lee would be a good example to follow. But she never published another novel (although she still could, she is only 80). It just makes me think that maybe the labor to write one great novel is too much for some authors.
"Today we'll be discussing A Tale of Two Cities, a terrific book by that most Dickensian of authors, Charles Dickens." - Peggy Hill
From members of the Arlen Book Club:
OX: Can't we at least agree that Mary Elizabeth's baby was her own lighthouse?
TRAVIS: Who ever heard of an illegitimate lighthouse? Dangit, Ox, you're confusin' realism with symbolism again.
OX: I'm about to symbolize my gun to your head.
1 comment:
Another "one hit wonder" is Confederacy of Dunces; it was published posthumously after the author committed suicide. One of my favorite books, it makes me mourn the loss of a truly talented (and seriously warped) author.
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