Wednesday, August 19, 2009

One Alone

The William Golding unpleasantness got me thinking about something- writers who were fairly prolific during their lifetimes, but are now only remembered by the public (and indeed the vast majority of readers) for one work. It seems as if every British schoolchild has to read Lord of the Flies at some point (I never took to it, personally), but I can't name any of Golding's other works, despite the fact he won a Nobel prize (of course, this might just be gross ignorance on my part...). A few more examples might be:

E.M. Delafield - The Diary of a Provincial Lady (I believe this has never been out of print...)
Stella Gibbons - Cold Comfort Farm (perhaps the most perfect example)
L.P. Hartley - The Go-Between
Winifred Holtby - South Riding
Mary Shelley - Frankenstein
Bram Stoker - Dracula
William Makepeace Thackeray - Vanity Fair (possibly controversial, but has anyone actually read Pendennis?)

Can anyone name any more?

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