(urth) If I already like ...

[Jerry Friedman]

I strongly second the recommendation for Crowley, and I'd start with Little, Big, although he's never written anything bad since Beasts.  For some reason Crowley put the climax of the Aegypt series in the third book, and described the fourth book as an "extended coda", if I remember correctly.  It's still much better than The Urth of the New Sun in my opinion, though.
 
It's not possible that you've read Wolfe, MacDonald, and Tolkien without reading C. S. Lewis, right?
 
You might try Jack Vance, probably starting with "The Moon Moth".  My reasons for disliking him are similar to my reasons for disliking Lafferty, which obviously don't apply for you, and Wolfe admires him greatly.  He's another writer with an unflagging imagination.
 
Borges of course.  Start with the stories written from 1939 to 1949 (but not the Parodi stories).
 
Which brings me to Nabokov, who as I occasionally say is the most Wolfean writer outside sf (or Wolfe is the most Nabokovian sf writer).  Pnin and Lolita are his two classics in the literary tradition.  Pale Fire (my favorite) has more fantasy.  A fan of Lafferty might especially like Invitation to a Beheading.  There were some interesting comments on two of Nabokov's short stories, "The Visit to the Museum" and "Details of a Sunset", on NABOKV-L today.  If anyone here has read either of those, I'd be interested in their thoughts.
 
Jerry Friedman


>________________________________
>
>From: Antonin Scriabin kierkegaurdian at gmail.com
>On Tue, Apr 17, 2012 at 1:50 PM, Jordon Flato <jordonflatourth at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>John crowley for sure.  The aegypt trilogy is top notch
>>On Apr 17, 2012 10:47 AM, "Antonin Scriabin" <kierkegaurdian at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>Wolfe, Lafferty, Powers, MacDonald, and Tolkien, what else will I like?  This email list has good taste, and I was wondering what other hidden authors you guys might enjoy, given preference for those mentioned.  I initially discovered Lafferty through this list some time ago, for example.  I know there has to be more!
>>>
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>Looks great!  I was actually paging through Little, Big the other day at a bookstore.  It seemed interesting, I will definitely try out the Aegypt books soon.  Wikipedia says it is a tetralogy, the most recent published in 2007 ... is it sort of an "Urth of the New Sun" thing, or does the fourth book follow right on the other three's heels?
>
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