Obscure awesome books.

>>9830240

Btw, Pekić is among the most impressive Serbian writers. He was highly prolific and his seven-tome work "Zlatno runo" (The Golden Fleece) is considered to be a European masterpiece in the league of "In Search of Lost Time", "Joseph and His Brothers" and "The Man Without Qualities". Read any work of his, you'll be challenged and impressed.

>>9830249
Any good Eng translations?

>>9830284

Not all works have been translated but "The Time of Miracles", "How to Quiet a Vampire" and "Rabies" have been translated I think.

You can check out a list of all of his writings with short commentaries and translations on the site his wife created: http://www.borislavpekic.com/p/books.html

>>9830284
>>9830421

More info about the Golden Fleece: http://www.kustu.com/w2/en:the_golden_fleece

Apparently it has only been translated in French, but "Hodočašće Arsenija Njegovana" has been translated by the NYBR: https://www.nyrb.com/collections/borislav-pekic/products/houses?variant=6467495809

>>9830240

What counts as 'obscure' ?

>>9830446

Anything underrated or underappreciated. Especially if it's unique and incomparable.

>>9830452

'underrated or underappreciated' by this board, or by critics at large?

>>9830459

Well, I haven't seen that many really unpopular books on this board, so both. It's more a thing of popularity than positive or negative critical reception, or both of those combined. Obscurity is more of a "this book/movie/album is really good and almost (or even) no one I know has ever even heard of it" thing.

>>9830466

Fair enough, I wasn't trying to bust your chops or anything I just don't post here much and didn't know if there would be some supposedly-obscure book everyone knows about or something.

Anyway, to actually contribute:

This isn't really super obscure or anything but the book "Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer is easily in my top 2 or 3, and possibly the best book I've ever read. Especially if you like reading a war memoir you will probably love this book. But I know of no other book which talks about suffering in such great quantities, so directly, and so frankly, while at once none of the excitement of life is lost anywhere. I think Celine said something like, "the deepest realization of humanity is war and illness, those endless nightmares." Its something like that, you live a whole life through this man's experience of the war.

Maybe it isn't obscure but its definitely underrated. Its one of the only books where I finished it, and put it down and felt like I was looking at life differently immediately afterward, and forever since. I think it isn't ranked high on many critics's lists because its a 'war book'. But I think about this book daily, and many of the things the author says in it are truly unforgettable in how shocking and candid they are.

>>9830361

W-what's this book about?

>>9830492
Sounds good.

Book that recently had that effect on me was Train Dreams. Truly a modern classic.

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>>9830240
Sigrid Undset is /lit/ as fuck

Also Sienkewicz gets an occasional mention here.

>>9830818
I've read "In Desert and Wilderness" by Sienkwicz as a child, but it was too descriptive and boring for me back then. I've heard great things about Quo Vadis which I have but can't seem to decide to read it.

>>9830492
I didn't even think you were. Thanks for the contribution, seems really interesting.

>>9830492
Read it earlier this year. Same feeling here, it has changed my view on certain aspects of life.

I thanked the Lord I was not born and sent to die on the eastern front.

>>9830913
>mann
>obscure

literally kys