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Jump to navigationJump to searchThe Book of Forgotten Authors by Christopher Fowler (view source)
Revision as of 14:12, 5 October 2017
, 14:12, 5 October 2017no edit summary
There's truth in that statement, you know, but there's a conundrum when it's applied to authors. Shakespeare is dead: Dickens is dead, but we haven't buried what they've written: that lives on until... when? Is it until fashion decrees that they should be no more? Or is it, as in the case of some children's authors that they are on life support through licensing deals and astute marketing? Christopher Fowler has unearthed (exhumed?) ninety nine authors who were once hugely popular, but whose works have disappeared, sometimes quite literally.
Then, of course, there's a further question: forgotten by whom? I was rather shocked that the first author up (they're in alphabetical order by surname) was [[:Category:Margery Allingham|Margery Allingham]]. Bookbag has seven reviews (as at July 2017) of her work and there's never been a shortage of takers when her books have been offered for review. [[:Category:Julia Jones|Julia Jones]], Allingham's biographer and the person who brought her last [[Beloved Old Age and What to Do About it: Margery Allingham's the Relay by Margery Allingham and Julia Jones|work]] to publication told me the story of a young person encouraging her father to read Allingham. Similarly, [[:Category:Gladys Mitchell|Gladys Mitchell]] might not have survived in quite the way that [[:Category:Agatha Christie|Agatha Christie]] and Dorothy L Sayers]] have thrived but she's another author whose books are snatched up when they're offered for review. Does it matter though? No - it's still good that such authors are being brought back to our attention.
The piece on each author is short and insightful, with sufficient detail about their lives and back catalogue to allow you to investigate further or search for any books you might want to read. They're full of Christopher Fowler's impish humour and I found that I was regularly reading out some glorious one liners. Nobody complained. Because the pieces are relatively short - usually just two or three pages - there was a real temptation to read 'just this one and then I'll...' A book I'd thought would be read over a week, was finished in a couple of days.
