Edwards' Book of Ebenezer le Page, Toole's Confederacy of Dunces, and Other One-Book Wonders

[Extollager]

Here's a catchall heading for works of fiction, poetry, or drama that were (at least for a long time) the one and only noted publications of their authors. (The author might have published a few little-noticed things, such as maybe some poems in a college magazine or something like that. But I don't see this thread as a the proper place for discussing an author who published a number of books but is remembered for just one.) I think we could squeeze Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird in here, although just recently it was announced that a work not finally prepared for publication in the author's lifetime was going to be issued.

Such authors and books might not justify their own threads, so they could be discussed here.

I'm figuring that works of fantasy and science fiction would be better discussed elsewhere.

Btw I haven't read Confederacy, and it's many years since I read Ebenezer le Page, although I might revisit it one of these days.

So -- what have you read in this category, and what did you think about it?

 

[Bick]

I've read John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces - it's a fantastic book, in my opinion. Very readable. The lazy, precious, supercilious, obese protagonist is (amazingly enough) rather likable. One roots for him, despite the fact that he despises and condescends everyone around him - because, at heart, he's right about them. Its one to reread, I'm sure.

I shall try to think of other one-book-wonders. Great thread idea.

 

[J-Sun]

She wrote poetry, but Emily Bronte qualifies, with Wuthering Heights. I don't know what possessed me to read it, as I think I always thought it was a "romance" novel (and it does deal with a supremely twisted relationship of high intensity) but it's really a sort of Gothic psychodrama and I recall really liking it.

Is it cheating to talk about someone like E.E. Cummings? Obviously very famous for a very large amount of great poetry but I don't know how well known he is for The Enormous Room which is a kind of fictionalized autobiography of some (non-military) WWI experiences. I mean, it was well-known at the time (1922, I think) but I don't know how well it's endured. But I liked it a great deal. Cummings keeps a lot of his unique way of looking at things and his strange wistful/acerbic/bittersweet/peacefully outraged tone even in a sort of prose (but not a "normal" prose, either). It's a neat book I think should be remembered.

(The same might go for Rilke's The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge. Unfortunately, it's one of these bizarre books where I was desperate to read it after reading a fantastic excerpt in an anthology yet, after finally getting it, I've let it sit in the Pile for years and years (Toole and Lee are also in the Pile but "just" got there). So I don't know how good it really is but I aim to find out one of these days. Sorry if these aren't what you meant, though.)

 

[Bick]

Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind? (I've not actually read it mind you). Wuthering Heights is a good call - and I enjoyed it too.

 

[saulfan]

How about 'The Stones Of Summer' by Dow Mossman, a book I very much enjoyed reading a few years back, chronicling the stages of life of the main character, with magnificent use of language and much humour along the way.

As far as I am aware , this is Mossman's only work.

Best Wishes,
David

 

[GOLLUM]

I like this thread.

How about Hope Mirlees and Lud-In-The-Mist?

She wrote some noted poetry (incl. Paris:The Poem that influenced the likes of Virginia Woolf and TS Eliott) as well but I doubt many people have read these in current times.

Correction: She also wrote a couple of other novels so may not make the grade.

This is actually a lot harder than it first seems...

 

[Randy M.]

She wrote poetry, but Emily Bronte qualifies, with Wuthering Heights. I don't know what possessed me to read it, as I think I always thought it was a "romance" novel (and it does deal with a supremely twisted relationship of high intensity) but it's really a sort of Gothic psychodrama and I recall really liking it.

I was about to add Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte but an unusual iota of caution prompted me to check and she did write other novels. Drat.

Is it cheating to talk about someone like E.E. Cummings? Obviously very famous for a very large amount of great poetry but I don't know how well known he is for The Enormous Room which is a kind of fictionalized autobiography of some (non-military) WWI experiences. I mean, it was well-known at the time (1922, I think) but I don't know how well it's endured. But I liked it a great deal. Cummings keeps a lot of his unique way of looking at things and his strange wistful/acerbic/bittersweet/peacefully outraged tone even in a sort of prose (but not a "normal" prose, either). It's a neat book I think should be remembered.

Good call. TER was assigned reading in a college course and one of the books I truly enjoyed reading for a course. I should reread and see what I think of it now.

(The same might go for Rilke's The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge. Unfortunately, it's one of these bizarre books where I was desperate to read it after reading a fantastic excerpt in an anthology yet, after finally getting it, I've let it sit in the Pile for years and years (Toole and Lee are also in the Pile but "just" got there). So I don't know how good it really is but I aim to find out one of these days. Sorry if these aren't what you meant, though.)

The Rilke is also on my Mount TBR.

I agree with Gollum. This is not easy. J. D. Salinger doesn't really qualify and Joseph Heller wrote some later works so Catch-22 isn't quite a solitary work. Maybe Ralph Ellison: Except for one collection, what came later mostly appeared after his death and came from his notes. So, I guess Invisible Man qualifies. It's been awhile since I read it, so the memory is hazy, but I recall finding it compelling and occasionally appalling since Ellison wasn't defending all of Black America and showed how that community could back-stab and lie to each other just like the rest of America, which is not to say he let the predominately white society off the hook. No, there was plenty of skewering to go around, and he does it well and in meticulous prose.


Randy M.

 

[Toby Frost]

It seems that a lot of the authors whom I thought had only written one book had actually produced quite a few, most of which had become obscure. I was going to suggest Nicholas Monserratt, who wrote The Cruel Sea, and A.G. Macdonell, who wrote an Evelyn Waugh-type comedy called England, Their England, but both did other books. How about W. Bowman, author of The Ascent of Rum Doodle? This is a parody of books about exploration that were fashionable in Britain around 1950. It's still very good.

I once heard that General Slim, victor of the British Empire's war against Japan, wrote a romance novel before becoming a soldier. That said, he did write his memoirs, so I'm not sure it would count even if that's true.

 

[GOLLUM]

I agree with Gollum. This is not easy. J. D. Salinger doesn't really qualify and Joseph Heller wrote some later works so Catch-22 isn't quite a solitary work. Maybe Ralph Ellison: Except for one collection, what came later mostly appeared after his death and came from his notes. So, I guess Invisible Man qualifies. It's been awhile since I read it, so the memory is hazy, but I recall finding it compelling and occasionally appalling since Ellison wasn't defending all of Black America and showed how that community could back-stab and lie to each other just like the rest of America, which is not to say he let the predominately white society off the hook. No, there was plenty of skewering to go around, and he does it well and in meticulous prose.
Randy M.

Being something of a fan of Ralph Ellison YES Invisible Man is a good suggestion, a masterpiece of American fiction IMO. However as you alluded to he did write a number of short stories (more early on) for which there is a collection published by Penguin and coincidentally just today I purchased a copy of Juneteenth which was his intended follow-up novel to Invisible Man but condensed and edited post-humorously from his copious notes into an apparently coherent work albeit technically unfinished by Ellison in his lifetime...so maybe borderline but under the circumstances I would still agree with you on this one. A tricky topic indeed...