I could devote this post (and many more) to the classics I read decades ago but I’ve not reread them for some time so that would be cheating. Instead, I’ve decided to stick with five reissued, lesser known books that thoroughly deserved the burst of renewed attention they attracted. Here are five rediscovered classics, four with links to full reviews on this blog.
I’m starting with John Williams’ Stoner, originally published in 1965 and reissued here in the UK in 2012 when it became that thing publishers yearn for: a word of mouth bestseller. It’s about an ordinary man who leads an unremarkable life. Born on a small Missouri farm in 1891, Stoner discovers a love of literature and becomes an academic, his success hard won. He finds himself in a loveless marriage, his unhappiness briefly lifted by a relationship with a young woman before academic rivalry intervenes. Williams quietly draws this understated, poignant novel to a close with Stoner’s death.
First published in 1967, the reissue of Thomas Savage’s The Power of the Dog comes from the same publishers who brought 
us Stoner. Set in 1924, the novel tells the story of the Burbank brothers, owners of one of Montana’s biggest ranches and rich beyond reckoning yet still sharing the same bedroom. When George brings home a wife, Phil sets about quietly undermining her until she no longer trusts her own judgement. Savage unfolds his story in a straightforward unfussy narrative, contrasting Phil’s calculated cruelty with his brother’s open-hearted kindness and leaving the reader to infer what lies at the heart of his scornful contempt. His descriptions of the sweeping Montana landscape, gruelling winters and the daily business of ranching are all wonderfully cinematic. It’s a fine novel, entirely worthy of the inevitable Stoner comparisons made when it was reissued in 2016.
William Melvin Kelley’s A Different Drummer was originally published in 1962 at the height of the Civil Rights movement although, sadly, it still resonates today. In 1957, the descendent of a slave destroys the farm he bought from the family of a renowned Civil War general in whose home he grew up, before departing with his pregnant wife. Within hours the black population begins heading north leaving behind bewilderment until the white residents come to understand the repercussions of this exodus and their mood turns. The story unfolds in clean, plain prose from the perspective of a variety of characters, all white. Its ending comes as no surprise. Kelley was just twenty-four when he published A Different Drummer, an astonishingly confident piece of work for a writer so young.
I’m stretching the ‘five’ of this post’s heading a little here but both Nell Larsen’s novellas, Quicksand and Passing, were
reissued in the same volume in 2014. Hard to mention one without the other. Passing begins with the memory of a chance meeting in a smart Chicago hotel. Two light-skinned women recognise each other – both are ‘passing’ in this bastion of white society but for one of them it’s a matter of convenience and mild titillation at her deception – for the other it’s the habit of a lifetime. Widely considered to be autobiographical, Quicksand, opens with a young woman deciding to give up her job as a teacher in an all-black school, risking all for what she hopes will be a more exciting future. She’s a woman who finds it impossible to settle. Each decision results in excitement, happiness then disillusion. Both are powerful, thought-provoking novellas which explore race and identity but while Quicksand is a sobering, Passing is gut-wrenching – an astonishingly brave book to have written in the 1920s
Set largely in the ’30s and ’40s, and published in 1959, Evan S. Connell’s Mrs Bridge was reissued in 2012. Written in understated elegant prose, it follows Mrs Bridge from her newly-wed days in Kansas to her widowhood and just beyond. She’s married to a lawyer, has three children and is both deeply conservative and naively innocent. Bombshells are delivered quietly and in passing: the Bridges cut short their six-week European jaunt because Hitler has invaded Poland which seems to be more of an inconvenience to them than a shattering world event. Mrs Bridge’s greatest enemy is time: housework and cooking are taken care of by the maid and Mrs Bridge spends much of her life wishing it away or devising little projects for herself which often come to nothing. Both moving and hilarious, Connell’s novella is a gently satirical portrait of a particular time and class. Mr Bridge, its companion, was reissued a year later and is also well worth reading but Mrs Bridge remains my favourite of the two.
Any rediscovered classics you’d like to recommend?
If you’d like to explore more posts like this, I’ve listed them here
I only read The Power of the Dog from these but I read it after it had been reissued with Cardiff Waterstones book group and it’s one of the books I’m most grateful for having found through the group. I thought it was extraordinarily powerful and used language to such good effect throughout.
Extraordinarily powerful, isn’t it, and the use of language is so vivid.
I have read Stoner, Passing (not Quicksand yet it’s tbr somewhere on the bookcase of doom) and Mrs Bridge. Those other two sound fantastic too and have somehow passed me by. Reissued classics are kind of my thing so I don’t really know where to start with recommendations, there are so many. Virago have recently reissued Ann Petry’s The Street and three of Gayl Jones’s novels, and I heartily recommend the reissues of Handheld Press and Dean Street Press. Your mention of the wonderful Stoner reminded me of William Maxwell for some reason. His novels; They Came Like Swallows and So Long, See you Tomorrow are wonderful.
I love William Maxwell’s wriitng and have a Blast From the Past post on the stocks for So Long , See You Tomorrow which is my favourite of his. I’ve added several Handheld Press and Dean Street Press titles to my tbr list thanks to you, Ali.
Stoner is magnificent. Mrs Bridges is also a tour de force. Both are sad. Both have the unspectacular life at their heart, wiuth respect. I’ve not read the others. So tempting.
Caroline
I’d recommend all of them, of course, but particularly Passing and Quicksand, Caroline.
I have still not read Stoner – sigh. I noticed another book by him (Butcher’s crossing) in the bookshop today and was tempted to get it for my husband (who enjoyed Stoner) but not sure whether it’s as good. Any idea?
Interesting question – I tried it and gave it up but my partner, who also loved Stoner, had more luck withit although I’m not sure he thought it was as good.
i might just have to take a punt on it in that case….
I thoroughly enjoyed Passing but still haven’t got around to Quicksand although it’s lingering on my list. I wasn’t quite so taken with The Power of the Dog – too much animal cruelty made it too difficult a read for me, though I felt it could work better for other readers, as it clearly did for you.
I know – that first page in particular is gut-wrenching. I hope you get to Quicksand.
I am half-way through an audio version of Stoner – it is totally mesmerising
It’s an arresting book, isn’t it. Who’s the reader?
It’s a chap called Robin Field – not a narrator I have come across before, but he has the perfect voice for this particular book – rather flat, with an air of perpetual disappointment, thus exactly matching Stoner’s personality!
That sounds perfect, although I hope that’s not his habitual tone for his sake!
Haha!