Category - Books

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Chuck Palahniuk
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10 Books About Prison
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7 Satirical Books about War
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Future of the Book
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My Top 5 Novellas
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10 Best-Sellers Initially Rejected
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7 Famous Works by Anonymous Authors
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11 Posthumously Published Novels
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7 Famous Controversial Novels
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My Top 4 Transgressive Authors

Chuck Palahniuk

Did you know that Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club (the book not the film) was published 19 years ago this month? I inadvertently discovered this whilst online yesterday. I am marking the anniversary of the release of Fight Club by dedicating this week’s blog post to Chuck Palahniuk’s books.

ChuckPalahniuk(Born: February 21st 1962)

I have read and reviewed 7 of this iconic transgressive author’s works. The following books are presented in the order in which they were published.

Fight ClubFightClub

The book’s narrator becomes friends with an anarchist by the name of Tyler Durden. The duo form a fight club, which meets every Sunday in basements and car lots.

My Review: The protagonist, who remains nameless, is an insomniac leading a bland corporate existence, investigating accidents for a car company, whose only concern is profit. (More)

My Rating: Excellent

Invisible MonstersInvisible Monsters

An accident leaves a model horribly disfigured and incapable of coherent speech. Whilst in hospital she meets Brandy Alexander. Their ensuing cross-country trip concludes with a surprising revelation.

My Review: Shannon McFarland is a catwalk model, who is the centre of attention wherever she goes. That is until she ‘accidentally’ blasts her jaw shot off with a gun … (More)

My Rating: Average

ChokeChoke

Choke is in essence a social commentary about our innate craving for attention. Protagonist Victor is a victim of the selfish motivations at the very root of modern American society.

My Review: The protagonist, Victor Mancini, is a sex addict employed at an eighteenth-century historical re-enactment park. Victor attends various sexual addiction support groups, where he meets … (More)

My Rating: Average

HauntedHaunted

In this harrowing and provocative set of short stories, Palahniuk skilfully explores a variety of themes, in addition to dispensing intelligent commentary on the human psyche.

My Review: Haunted is about a group of writers, who have been assembled by the conniving Mr Whittier to attend a writers group. The location of the retreat …(More)

My Rating: Good/Disturbing

RantRant

Rant challenges our own traditions by demonstrating how we contort our recollection of events in accordance with our desires, motives and beliefs. There are obvious parallels with the gospels.

My Review: Rant is the oral history of Buster ‘Rant’ Casey, recounted by an array of people including his relations, friends, enemies and lovers. Rant’s childhood companions from … (More)

My Rating: Quite good but convoluted

DamnedDamned

Damned is a satire of hell. Written in a lighthearted style, the book is punctuated with comical details, pop-culture references and Theological irony. Palahniuk’s vivid imagination is on display throughout.

My Review: The protagonist is thirteen-year-old Madison, the daughter of wealthy alternative parents. The privileged Madison studies at an exclusive Swiss boarding school and spends her holidays alternating … (More)

My Rating: Good

DoomedDoomed

After escaping from Hell Madison Spencer (protagonist of Damned) is forced to spend a year languishing on Earth as a ghost. In her absence Madison has spawned a religion, Boorism.

My Review: Doomed is the sequel to Damned and part two of a proposed Dante inspired trilogy. It sees the return of Damned’s protagonist – the plucky, post-life, plump, periphrastic, … (More)

My Rating: Bad

 

10 Books About Prison

This week sees the latest instalment in my popular famous book series. In recent years I have read a number of books about prisons/prisoners, all of which I have reviewed here on my blog. I thought it would make an interesting topic for a post.

Here are 10 books (4 of which I’ve read) about prison:

 

Invitation to a Beheading by Vladimir Nabokov
Invitation to a Beheading

Invitation to a Beheading was originally published in a Russian émigré magazine in 1935-6. The book’s protagonist is Cincinnatus C., a prison inmate and citizen of an imaginary country, who has been sentenced to death.

 

Darkness At Noon by Arthur KoestlerDarkness At Noon

Darkness At Noon is dedicated to the victims of The Moscow Trials.  Although the characters in the book are fictitious, the historical circumstances are not. Protagonist Rubashov is a veteran of the Revolution and a decorated war hero.

Click here to read my review.

 

The Great Escape by Paul BrickhillThe Great Escape

The Great Escape chronicles the famous escape of more than 600 men from a German prisoner-of-war camp. Their escape was meticulously planned over the course of year. Tunnels were dug, maps drawn, passports forged and clothes made. Then came the big night.

 

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr SolzhenitsynOne Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Ivan Denisovich Shukhov is a former POW serving a 10 year term in a Gulag on the Kazakh steppe for being a spy. He is innocent. The book chronicles a single day of his existence, beginning with a 5 a.m. reveille.

Click here to read my review. 

 

Birdman of Alcatraz by Thomas E. Gaddis

Birdman of Alcatraz

This is the story of Robert Stroud, an inmate of the notorious Alcatraz prison, situated in the middle of San Francisco Bay. Stroud became so fascinated with the birds that landed outside his cell that he wrote several books about their behaviour.

 

Papillon by Henri Charrière

PapillonPapillon is an autobiography about Henri Charrière.  Convicted in Paris of a murder that he did not commit, Charrière was sentenced to life imprisonment in French Guiana, where he became obsessed with the idea of escape.

 

Midnight Express by Billy Hayes & William Hoffer

Midnight ExpressIn 1970 Billy Hayes, an English student, was caught smuggling hashish in Istanbul airport. His punishment, life imprisonment in a Turkish prison. One night he made a daring bid for freedom. Midnight Express is an Academy Award-winning film of the same name.

  

Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut

Hocus PocusWhen protagonist Eugene Debs was sacked from his job as a college professor he became a teacher at a local prison. This unusually constructed novel is presented as if it had been written on scraps on paper and then assembled.

 

The Aquariums of Pyongyang by Pierre Rigoulot, & Kang Chol Hwan  

The Aquariums of PyongyangChol-Hwan is a North Korean, whose family had previously resided in Japan. The family initially flourished in their adopted country, but then they were sent to a prison camp. Chol-Hwan eventually fled to China and then on to South Korea.

Click here to read my review.

 

Escape from Camp 14 Blaine Harden Escape From Camp 14

Escape from Camp 14 is the life story of Shin Dong-Hyuk, the only known person born in a North Korean gulag to have escaped.  Shin started life in a fenced encampment less than fifty miles north of the capital Pyongyang.

Click here to read my review.

 

 

7 Satirical Books about War

I like satire. My 2nd novel, Necropolis, is a satirical, black comedy about the politically correct, safety-obsessed world in which we live. I have also read a lot of books that could be described as satirical. My recent satirical reading exploits have included 2 famous and controversial satires about war. Earlier this week I was researching other war satires that might be of interest when it occurred to me that this would make a good topic for a blog post.

Here are 7 famous satirical books about war.

Catch-22 by Joseph HellerCatch-22

Based on Heller’s own experiences as a bombardier in WWII, this best-selling, satirical, anti-war novel, took its American author 8 years to write. Catch-22 is frequently cited as one of the greatest literary works of the 20th century.

Click here to read my review.

 

MASH by Richard Hooker
MASH

Published in 1968, Mash follows the blundering exploits of the fictitious 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital staff during the Korean War. The book was the inspiration for the 1970 film Mash and the TV series MAS*H.

  

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt VonnegutSlaughterhouse 5

Slaughterhouse-Five’s anti-war rhetoric has resulted in it being banned from numerous US schools and libraries. The story is about the exploits of Billy Pilgrim, a survivor of the notorious firebombing of Dresden in World War II.

Click here to read my review.

 

Going After Cacciato by Tim O’BrienGoing After Cacciato

After going AWOL, Cacciato proceeds to walk from Vietnam to France. The non-linear Cacciato is narrated in the third person from the perspective of its protagonist Paul Berlin. The book’s central theme is psychological trauma.

 

Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas PynchonGravity's Rainbow

This comic novel shared the 1974 U.S. National Book Award for Fiction. Its complex storyline sees protagonist Lieutenant Tyrone Slothrop of the U.S. Army travelling across war-torn Europe, his mission to find the German V2 Rocket 00000.

  

The Pearl of Kuwait by Tom PaineThe Pearl of Kuwait

The Pearl of Kuwait has been described as Romeo and Juliet meets Lawrence of Arabia. The story follows Marine Private Cody Carmichael and Private Tommy Trang efforts to rescue a Kuwaiti princess from behind enemy lines.

 

Dear Mr. President by Gabe HudsonDear Mr. President

The theme of this series of short stories is Gulf War Syndrome. There is a US Marine who grows a third ear, a veteran whose bones are disintegrating, and a Green Beret who sees a vision of George Washington.

 

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Future of the Book

The first e-book readers (Rocket eBook & SoftBook Reader) were launched in Silicon Valley in 1998. November 2007 saw Amazon release the Amazon Kindle (Cost: $399). It sold out in 5 1/2 hours. Today, 7 generations of Kindle later, there are 3.6m e-books (including my 2 novels) on the Amazon Kindle Store.

Approximately 30% of books are now sold as e-books. However, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the demise of the paper book is not imminent. Nielsen BookScan (tracks what readers are buying) revealed that the number of paper books sold went up 2.4% in 2014.

eBooks

(Courtesy of pencanada)

The book industry continues to be in a state of flux. Amazon’s war with the publishing industry (c.f. Hachette) has been well-documented. Amazon (controls 67% approx. of the U.S. e-book market) emerged victorious from the ‘Ebook Wars’, its heavily armed Kindles decimating Barnes and Noble’s woefully under-equipped Nooks. In the UK Amazon’s continued dominance has been challenged by supermarkets (Sainsbury & Tesco). The most likely challenge to Amazon’s domination of the e-book segment of its business in the foreseeable future is from Apple, who are rapidly closing in on 2nd place in the US market.

Whether the future (paper books) will see Amazon delivery drones surging through the sky above the ruins of former bookshops, only time will tell.  With regards e-books, there seems no doubt that subscription services will increasingly come to the fore over the next few years. Bloomberg View columnist Leonid Bershidsky declared last year that the ‘… future of book ownership will soon be an anachronism.’ He claims that the future of books will be ‘an enormous digital library in the cloud, …’

Last year, Amazon launched Kindle Unlimited, a service that entails subscribers paying a monthly fee in exchange for access to around 700,000 books. It has been frequently hypothesised that Apple are poised to enter the fray. This seems likely, considering the manner in which we are now increasingly consuming media content (c.f. music, Netflix etc.).

Amazon6

Another recent innovation, that will inevitably become more popular, are ‘books’ that span different forms of media. In 2014 Rosetta Books published Find Me I’m Yours by author, artist & digital innovator Hillary Carlip. Described as a ‘Click Lit Novel’, it is a blend of words, images, videos, links and interactive elements, which enable the ‘reader’ to participate in polls as well as give their opinions. The story is about an L.A. based artist, employed at a bridal website, who has a predilection for cutting up 2 different cardigans and then sewing them together again (Why? – I don’t know why). 1 day she purchases a camera, which contains a video from a man (hunky/cheesy type) requesting to be her soul mate, but only if she is able to find him in time. A trashy nauseating delightful pursuit ensues.

In the future there will be ‘books’ that will entail reading, watching, hearing and no doubt a tactile virtual reality element too. Each and every 1 of the consumer’s sensory desires will be satisfied. One imagines that this approach will prove to be beneficial in encouraging reading-reluctant children.

Mother calls down from upstairs to young son, ‘Darling, if you read up to page 30, you can play the rest of the book.’ ………………………….. ‘Yes, there’s a monster’ ………………. (sighs) …. ‘Yes, you get to decapitate and disembowel the monster at the end.’

Necropolis

My Top 5 Novellas

This week’s blog post is dedicated to my top 5 novellas.  For anyone not familiar with this literary form, a novella is a fictional, prose narrative that is longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. Novellas are generally about 20,000 – 50,000 words.

Here are my 5 favourite novellas in ascending order.
 

5 – The Legend of the Holy Drinker by Joseph Roth

The Legend of the Holy Drinker

This is a compact and compassionate novella about an alcoholic tramp.  Its author, Joseph Roth, succumbed to a premature alcohol related death shortly after finishing this allegorical tale about seeking redemption.

My Review: The story is about an alcoholic tramp by the name of Andreas, who lives under bridges of the river Seine.  Andreas finds himself in luck when he is given two hundred francs by a stranger, … (More)
 

4 – The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway

The Old Man And The Sea

This is a carefully constructed and evocative novella written in Hemingway’s trademark simple, concise, economy of prose style. It is a memorable story that I would strongly recommend to anyone who hasn’t read it.

My Review: Set in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Cuba, this is a tale about an old man, a boy and a colossal Marlin.  The old man, Santiago, is a veteran fisherman, who is on a run of bad luck having been eighty-four days without catching a fish. (More)
 

3 – The Pearl by John Steinbeck

The Pearl

Unlike most of Steinbeck’s novels, The Pearl is set in the Gulf of Mexico, not the Salinas Valley.  It is a captivating and disturbing parable about the darker side of human nature that illustrates how riches can be illusory.

My Review: Steinbeck’s novella, The Pearl, is a story about a destitute Mexican pearl diver by the name of Kino, who leads a simple, predictable existence with his wife Juana and baby son Coyotito. One day … (More)
 

2 – Junky by William S. Burroughs

Junky

Junky is a semi-autobiographical novella that adeptly captures the obsessive nature of addiction.  Its detached journalistic approach is in stark contrast to the rambling, stream of consciousness style found in some of Burroughs’s later works.

My Review: Set in 1950s America and Mexico, Junky is a confessional novella about drug addiction. Its protagonist Bill Lee chronicles his drug-centred existence, which entails searching for his daily fix, scoring, and … (More)
 

1 – One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Whilst the morose subject matter (Gulags) will not appeal to everyone, this reader, an avid Solzhenitsyn fan, is of the opinion that One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is one of the best books ever written.

My Review: Ivan Denisovich Shukhov is a former POW serving a 10 year term in a Gulag on the Kazakh steppe for being a spy. He is innocent. The book chronicles a single day of his existence, beginning with a 5 a.m. reveille. (More)

 

10 Best-Sellers Initially Rejected

This week’s blog post is dedicated to best-selling books that were initially rejected by publishers.  It is a subject that I thought might interest my fellow authors and book lovers. The following 10 books are presented in chronological order.

Amazon6

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells (1898) – This science fiction classic is about an unnamed protagonist and his younger brother, who are in London when the Earth is invaded by aliens. It was initially snubbed by a number of publishers, including one who wrote in the rejection letter, ‘An endless nightmare. I think the verdict would be ‘Oh don’t read that horrid book.’’

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (1908) – This classic recounts the adventures of Anne Shirley, an 11-year-old orphan sent to live with a middle-aged brother and sister on their farm. 5 publishers initially snubbed it, and it was only 2 years after this setback that the author removed it from her hatbox and resubmitted it.

Dubliners by James Joyce (1914) – Dubliners is a collection of 15 short stories whose primary theme is epiphany. Joyce began trying to find a publisher for his controversial book in 1905. He submitted Dubliners 18 times to 15 publishers without success. His relentless perseverance finally paid off when Grant Richards published it in 1914.

Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence (1928) – This story about a relationship between a gamekeeper and an upper-class woman was printed privately by its author in Florence after it was rejected by a host of publishers, due to its perceived scandalous subject matter and content. Lady Chatterley’s Lover was not published openly the UK until 1960.

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (1936) – Set during the American Civil War and Reconstruction era, Gone with the Wind is about Scarlett O’Hara, the daughter of a plantation owner. This, the only book published by Mitchell during her lifetime was shunned 38 times by publishers before eventually being accepted.  

Reject

Lord of the Flies by William Golding (1954) – This dystopian novel is about a group of boys stranded on a deserted island, who attempt to govern themselves. Lord of the Flies was rejected 20 times before Faber and Faber accepted it. One of the rejection letters condemned the book as, ‘An absurd and uninteresting fantasy which was rubbish and dull.’

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1955) – Lolita is a controversial novel about a man’s obsession with a 12-year-old girl. It was rebuffed by numerous publishers because of its contentious subject matter. The book was eventually published in France by Olympia Press. Lolita was fourth on Modern Library’s 1998 list of the 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century.

Carrie by Stephen King (1974) – Stephen King’s first published novel is about a bullied high school girl who utilises her telekinetic powers to get revenge on her tormenters. Numerous publishers rejected the book. One publisher wrote in the rejection letter, ‘We are not interested in science fiction which deals with negative utopias. They do not sell.’

Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2001) – This fantasy adventure novel is about an Indian boy who survives for 227 days on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger called Richard Parker. Life of Pi was rejected by 5 London publishers. In 2002 it won the The Man Booker Prize.

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (2003) – Dan Brown’s seminal work is a mystery/detective novel that explores an alternative religious history. Prior to its publication by Doubleday it was rejected by another publisher, who pre-empting the sentiments of many of its readers, allegedly stated in the rejection letter, ‘It is so badly written.’

7 Famous Works by Anonymous Authors

Many authors have published anonymously through history, including Jane Austen, whose books were all published anonymously during her lifetime. However, I have only included literary works whose authors are either unknown or we know nothing about.

Here are 7 anonymously published works. They are presented in chronological order.

 

Beowulf

Beowulf

Set in Scandinavia, Beowulf is an Old English epic poem that was written between the 8th and early 9th century. It is regarded as one of the most important works of Old English literature, and may well be the oldest surviving long poem in Old English. The author of Beowulf was an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet, who is commonly referred to as the ‘Beowulf poet’.

 

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Sir Gawain

This late 14th century Middle English chivalric romance is one of the most famous of the Arthurian stories. Written in stanzas of alliterative verse, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was influenced by Irish, Welsh, English and French traditions. The poem survives as a single manuscript, which also includes 3 narrative poems. To this day the author remains a mystery.

 

Lazarillo de Tormes

Lazarillo

La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes y de sus fortunas y adversidades is a Spanish novella, which was published in 3 cities in 1554. The novella’s content was regarded as heretical due to its open criticism of the Catholic Church, and this is most likely the reason that it was published anonymously. Various authors have been attributed to this important work.

 

The Romance of Lust

The Romance of Lust

The Romance of Lust is a Victorian erotic novel that was published in 4 volumes between 1873-1876. The novel’s protagonist is Charlie Roberts, a man with a voracious sexual appetite. There has been much debate over who the author of this controversial book was. The general consensus is that William Simpson Potter or Edward Sellon, a well-known Victorian author of erotic novels, most likely wrote it.

 

Novel with Cocaine

Novel with Cocaine

Novel with Cocaine is a nihilistic and philosophical novel about adolescence and addiction. Since the time of its publication in book form there has been intense speculation over who wrote it. Many believed that it was Vladimir Nabokov, but he vehemently denied being the author. The real author is thought to be Mark Levi, a Russian émigré, who posted the manuscript to the Parisian journal Numbers in 1934.

Click here to read my review.

 

Diary of an Oxygen Thief

Diary of an Oxygen Thief

Diary of an Oxygen Thief is a Dutch novel, published in 2006, professing to be an autobiographical account of an Irish advertising executive living first in London and later in America, where he suffers from culture shock. The book, which was written anonymously, was published in Amsterdam by NLVI. Although Diary of an Oxygen Thief has become extremely popular the identity of its author continues to be a mystery.

 

O: A Presidential Novel 

O

O: A Presidential Novel is a fictional account about the 2012 U.S. presidential race. Prior to publication, its publisher Simon & Schuster contacted many writers and journalists, requesting that they decline to comment if asked whether they were the anonymous author. The book was purportedly written by someone who ‘has been in the room with Obama’. The individual’s identity remains unknown.

11 Posthumously Published Novels

This week’s blog post is dedicated to posthumously published novels. They are presented in chronological order.

 
 

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (1817)

Northanger Abbey

Northanger Abbey was Jane Austen’s first novel. It is thought that it was written circa 1798-99. Although the book was sold to Crosby & Co. in 1803 they decided against publication. The book was later sold back to Jane’s brother Henry. Northanger Abbey was finally published in December 1817, 5 months after its author’s demise.

 

The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens (1870)

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

When England’s most famous author Charles Dickens died in June 1870, his final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, remained unfinished. As a result when it was published later that year the book’s killer was not revealed. The general consensus is that John Jasper, Edwin’s uncle, is the murderer.

 

Bouvard et Pécuchet by Gustave Flaubert (1881)

Bouvard and Pecuchet

Gustave Flaubert never finished his satirical novel Bouvard et Pécuchet, despite starting work on it in 1872. Flaubert intended that it would be his seminal work, eclipsing his most acclaimed novel, Madame Bovary. However, when the book was finally published a year after the author’s death in 1880 it was not well received.

 

The Ivory Tower by Henry James (1917)

The Ivory Tower

At the time of his death in 1916 Henry James was still working on The Ivory Tower. The book was published without an ending the year after his demise. It went on to receive considerable praise for its criticism of excessive wealth and laissez faire capitalism, although some criticised its dense prose and slow pace.

 

You Can’t Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe (1940)

You Can't Go Home Again

When Thomas Wolfe died in 1938 he left behind a vast unpublished script titled, The October Fair. His editor transformed the manuscript into the novel You Can’t Go Home Again. It is about an author who writes a book about small town America. The book goes down so badly in his hometown that he is unable to return home.

 

Between the Acts by Virginia Woolf (1941)

Between The Acts

Between the Acts is a novel about a festival play in an English village, set shortly before the outbreak of WWII. It is replete with innuendo and hidden meanings. After finishing the manuscript Woolf entered a deep depression.  On the 28th March 1941 she drowned herself in the River Ouse. The novel was published 4 months later.

 

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (1980)

A Confederacy of Dunces

John Kennedy Toole was unsuccessful in getting A Confederacy of Dunces published during his lifetime, which resulted in him becoming very depressed, culminating in his suicide in 1969. In 1980, 11 years after his death, his mother succeeded in getting it published. The book won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1981.

  

Gather Yourselves Together by Philip K Dick (1994)

Gather Yourselves Together

Philip K Dick is one of the most famous science fiction writers of all time. However, despite writing Gather Yourselves Together early in his writing career, it was not published until 12 years after his death. Publishers had initially refused it due to the length of the manuscript (481 pages).

 

Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man by Joseph Heller (2000)

Portrait of an Artist

Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man is about an aging writer attempting to write a novel that would emulate his earlier efforts. An apt subject matter considering that Heller’s most famous work, Catch-22, was published in 1961. Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man was published posthumously in 2000, the year after his death.

 

The Millennium Series by Stieg Larsson (2005-2007)

Millennium Series At the time of his death in 2004 aged 50, Larsson’s Millennium Series were unpublished manuscripts sitting in his house. The trilogy saw the author achieve posthumous fame.  In 2008 Larsson was the second highest selling author in the world.  To date over 60 million copies of the Millennium Series have been sold worldwide.

 

 The Original of Laura by Vladimir Nabokov (2009)

The Original Of Laura Nabokov had requested that the novel he was working on at the time of his death in 1977 be destroyed. In 2008 Nabokov’s son announced plans to publish it, and the following year, 32 years after his father’s demise, The Original of Laura was published. Many castigated the book, arguing that it was in no fit state to be published.

7 Famous Controversial Novels

Here are 7 famous controversial novels from the last 250 years. They are presented in chronological order:

 

Fanny Hill by John Cleland (1748-1749)

Fanny Hill

Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure or Fanny Hill as it is popularly known was published in 2 parts in 1748 & 1749. Written during its author’s stint in a debtor’s prison, Fanny Hill is considered to be the first erotic novel in the English language. It is one of the most banned and prosecuted books of all time. In November 1749 Cleland was arrested and charged with ‘corrupting the King’s subjects’.

 

Candide by Voltaire (1759)

Candide

Candide is a satirical novella that was regarded as being highly controversial at the time of its publication. Its author, the ardent critic Voltaire, not only criticised the prevailing philosophical ideology of his era, optimism, but also attacked the greed and hypocrisy within the state and church. The religious and secular authorities denounced the book, and it continued to cause controversy into the 20th Century.

 

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852)

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom’s Cabin or Life Among the Lowly as it is also known was deemed at the time of its publication as a scathing attack on the slave-owning South. The book was so reviled in the South that it spawned a raft of what came to be known as Anti-Tom literature. The book is regarded as having been instrumental in stirring the abolitionist cause that was to culminate in The Civil War.

 

Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence (1928)

Lady Chatterley's Lover

Lady Chatterley’s Lover is a fictional account of a married woman’s affair with her gamekeeper. Although published, it was heavily censored due to its perceived pornographic content. In 1960, 30 years after Lawrence’s death, Penguin attempted to publish the original version of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, but was forced to go to trial because of the ‘Obscene Publications Act’ of the previous year. The book was banned in the America until 1959.

 

Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs (1959)

Naked Lunch

Burrough’s seminal work, the non-linear Naked Lunch, is a sardonic, dark and humorous work that takes the form of a series of loosely linked vignettes. It draws on Burroughs’s own experiences living as a drug addict in the U.S., Mexico and Tangier. The book was viewed as being so scandalous at the time of its publication that it underwent a court case under U.S. obscenity laws.

 

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (1988)

The Satanic Verses

The title of The Satanic Verses was deemed offensive by many Muslims, as it refers to a number of allegedly pagan verses, temporarily included in the Qur’an and later removed. Some pious Muslims were also displeased that the prophet Abraham was referred to as a ‘bastard’, in addition to various other insertions. In January 1989 the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a Fatwa against the author. To this day Rushdie receives death threats.

 

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis (1991)

American Psycho

American Psycho is a satire of the yuppy culture of the 1980s that brought Easton Ellis instant fame.  It is about a young, psychopathic Wall Street financier. The book caused outrage when it was published due to its explicit violence, sexual content and perceived misogynistic themes. Its author received numerous death threats. American Psycho was deemed harmful to minors in Germany and sold shrink-wrapped in Australia.

My Top 4 Transgressive Authors

Definition: Transgressive literature is a genre that focuses on characters who feel confined by the norms and expectations of society and who break free of those confines in unusual and/or illicit ways. Protagonists in Transgressive literature are in one form or other rebelling against society.  Due to this they may appear to be anti-social, nihilistic or even sociopathic.

These are my top 4 Transgressive authors. Click on the book links to read my reviews.

 

Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski August 16th 1920 – March 9th 1994

Heavily influenced by his home city of Los Angeles, Bukowski wrote about disillusionment, alcohol consumption, women, a loathing of authority and the dehumanising nature of low-level work, all presented in his unique visceral writing style.  His seminal work, Post Office, is a semi-autobiographical account of his years of drudgery at the post office.  Bukowski is a cult figure, whose writing remains popular to this day.

My Favourite: Post Office

Would also recommend: Ham On Rye & Pulp

 

 

Bret Easton Ellis

Easton-Ellis

 Born: March 7th 1964

Disillusioned, nihilistic and even sociopathic characters are the staple of cult author Bret Easton Ellis’s books. His most famous work, the infamous American Psycho, caused outrage even before it was published, as many in the literary establishment were disgusted with the sexual violence and what some viewed as the misogynistic nature of its contents.  American Psycho went on to become one of the most influential books of the nineties and secured the author his legacy as an important literary figure.

My Favourites: American Psycho & Less Than Zero

 

 

Chuck Palahniuk

ChuckPalahniuk

 Born: February 21st 1962 

Palahniuk has constantly courted controversy with the content of his books.  Fight Club, which remains to this day his most celebrated effort, was viewed as extremely controversial when the film version was released in 1999, only six months after the Columbine school shootings.  Palahniuk’s dark and disturbing fiction has continued to scandalise ever since.  His book Haunted is often voted in polls as one of the most disturbing books ever written.

My Favourite: Fight Club

Would also recommend: Damned, Haunted & Rant

 

 

William S. Burroughs

WilliamBurroughs

February 5th 1914 – August 2nd 1997

William S. Burroughs, was a controversial character with a penchant for rent boys and heroin, who rebelled against the social norms of his era by writing about disillusionment, drugs and homosexuality.  Arguably his most famous book, the non-linear Naked Lunch was viewed as so scandalous at the time of its publication that it underwent a court case under U.S. obscenity laws.

My Favourite: Junky 

Would also recommend: Queer

 

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