Uncategorized | February 10, 2004

With the announcement of the Pushcart nominations, I felt I’d mention some of the wonderful literary rediscoveries that are currently going on in the publishing world. We readers and writers always want to read great new writers (such as those nominated by The Missouri Review). There is little as exciting as reading a literary magazine and discovering a story as beautiful as Emily Raboteau’s, “Bernard Jr.’s Uncle Luscious.” Another, like joy, is rediscovering older books by authors you may not have heard mentioned in the general “classics” list, but whose work strikes you as original and breathtaking. There have been several publishers who work to rediscover “lost” books, books that, over time, fell out of print and now are thankfully made available again. An earlier post linked to one such publisher, Virago Modern Classics. Another publishing endeavor of note is the Collins Library, available through McSweeney’s Press. Their most recent publication is Lady Into Fox by David Garnett and they’ve already released Geoffery Pyke’s brilliant To Ruhleben – And Back. The New York Review of Books, has published the works of contemporaries like Mavis Gallant and Rebecca West, and brilliant 20th Century writers such as Christina Stead, J.F. Powers, Richard Hughes and Alberto Moravia.

We’re all fortunate, both that we have new writers such as those nominated by The Missouri Review, and that we have publishers willing to return “lost” work to print.