Monday, April 05, 2010

Five direly underappreciated U.S. novels >1960

In 1999 David Foster Wallace named five direly underappreciated post-1960 U.S. novels.

One book on the list:
"Angels" by Denis Johnson (1983)

This was Johnson's first fiction after the horripilative lyric poetry of "Incognito Lounge." Even cult fans of "Jesus' Son" often haven't heard of "Angels." It's sort of "Jesus' Son's" counterpoint, a novel-length odyssey of mopes and scrotes and their brutal redemptions. A totally American book, it's also got great prose, truly great, some of the '80s' best; e.g. lines like "All around them men drank alone, staring out of their faces."
Read about another book on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue