10 Classic Books
Artists often go unrecognized during their lifetimes, and several great writers and thinkers found that their greatest works either went completely unnoticed or were poorly received when they first came out. The following books were not immediately appreciated for their genius, much to the dismay of the authors responsible for them.
10 Moby-Dick – Herman Melville
Moby-Dick is Herman Melville’s most famous work, studied at length by literary scholars and constantly referenced in popular culture. While Melville was alive, however, it was hardly a best seller. The brilliantly executed work sold only 3,715 copies, a far cry from other works by Melville such as Typee (16,300) and Omoo(13,300). The reviews of the novel were far from kind. The Charleston Southern Quarterly Review wrote the following on the subject of Moby-Dick and its author:
“Mr. Melville’s Quakers are the wretchedest dolts and drivellers, and his Mad Captain . . . is a monstrous bore . . . His ravings, and the ravings of some of the tributary characters, and the ravings of Mr. Melville himself, meant for eloquent declamation, are such as would justify a writ de lunatico against all the parties.”
Melville’s death was hardly noteworthy at the time, and the lone newspaper that carried the news of his passing referred to him as a “long-forgotten author.” Melville’s genius would be recognized long after his death, and Moby-Dick, his magnum opus, would finally be hailed for the masterpiece he believed it to be.
9 The Sound And The Fury – William Faulkner
In what is now regarded as an undeniable literary masterpiece written by one of the greatest authors of the 20th century, The Sound and the Fury documented the fall of a prominent Southern family and explored several innovative literary techniques. When the book was released, however, it was met with varying reviews, including one by a commentator who wrote, “The deliberate obscurity of the opening pages repels rather than invites.”
Faulkner himself was extraordinarily fond of the novel and was unrelenting in his belief that it was his masterpiece. According to Ben Wasson, Faulkner’s literary agent, Faulkner delivered his manuscript and declared, “This one’s the greatest I’ll ever write.”
For all of Faulkner’s hubris regarding his masterwork, the reviews of his novel were mixed at the time of its release. The novel, his fourth, itself was not successful commercially until the release of his sixth novel, titled Sanctuary, which was, according to Faulkner, written only out of need for financial compensation.
Today, On the Road is known as the seminal work of the Beat Generation, with Jack Kerouac its leading man. When Kerouac first wrote the novel, however, no publisher was interested. In fact, Kerouac’s novel was rejected by at least six different publishers, but that didn’t stop him from writing.
During the early 1950s, with only one of his works published (The Town and the City), Kerouac completed five major novels that no one was interested in. Further complicating matters, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs, two writers heavily influenced by Kerouac’s spontaneous style of prose, enjoyed relatively immediate success after the completion of their works. Of his frustration, Kerouac wrote to his agent, saying, “Why don’t they realize I’m good?”
Of course, On the Road would eventually be published and his spontaneous style hailed as revolutionary by some yet decried by others. Of his negative reviewers, Ginsberg speculated that the CIA might have had something to do with it. Referring to literary magazines such as Encounter that were funded by the CIA, Ginsberg said, “They had that kind of mentality that would take Kerouac’s open wit, Whitmanic beauty, and honesty of person and find that creepy and subjective and egotistical or irresponsible. It’s a conservative, stupid party line.”
As his popularity surged, his other previously completed works would also be published, but this only contributed to further criticism of his spontaneous style because it seemed that the author was just churning out novels every couple of weeks.
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