One of the weirder 20th-century pulps was called Lonely Island Adventures. It published Robinson Crusoe-style stories about people cast off on isolated islands, forced to survive with their wits.
I tried to look up the NYRB Classics edition of *The Stalwart*, hahaha. Naomi is too good at creating these worlds! To be fair, I wasn't thinking about the fact that today is a Thursday.
I think you forgot to include the part where William Golding grew up reading LIA, and he was in particular a fan of Sterling. After "Lord of the Flies" was published, however, he strenuously objected to it being categorized as a Lonely Island Adventure, insisting rather that it was "literature."
Talk about a twist ending!!! I was captivated by this, and the fact that you made it all up just makes it more captivating. I love tales about nonexistent literature. Best since Borges.
Wow, you completely fooled me. I love your essays on subjects like The Saturday Evening Post, Richard Howard, and other corners of literary history. This one fits right in, however imagined it might be. Maybe you’ve invented a new genre: fictional literary history.
There were several Howard anthologies published in the 1970s, in paperback by Zebra Books, which included poetry. I love Howard's poems. They are not about "musclemen" they are melancholy poems about the frailty of life and the fleetingness of fame and victory. Here's one:
When I was a soldier, the kettledrums they beat.
The people scattered gold-dust before my horses feet.
Now I am a great king. The people hound my track,
With poison in my wine-cup, and daggers at my back!
I memorized that about 45 years ago, and it is still great!
I was referring to a different poet, named Richard Howard, who was also a literary critic. Or, I misnamed Robert E. as Richard in my first post. Richard was a VERY different sort of writer, so I was making a weak joke about my initial mistake.
You had me right up to the reveal! The petty rivalries, the peculiar obsessions, all spot-on for the scenes surrounding genres and subgenres of fiction. I would definitely read more fictional literary history.
You had me until very near the end, and not because it was not believable, but because I have been a fan of this sort of thing all my life and I would have heard of Lonely Island Adventures.
Brilliant job, and only wish it were all true, so we could read the anthology!
And I was wondering if you would talk about Gilligan's Island ...
I thought it was real and was all set to read the island adventure stories, even the ones without the good girl-bad girl plots! That's unfair!
I tried to look up the NYRB Classics edition of *The Stalwart*, hahaha. Naomi is too good at creating these worlds! To be fair, I wasn't thinking about the fact that today is a Thursday.
I think you forgot to include the part where William Golding grew up reading LIA, and he was in particular a fan of Sterling. After "Lord of the Flies" was published, however, he strenuously objected to it being categorized as a Lonely Island Adventure, insisting rather that it was "literature."
Talk about a twist ending!!! I was captivated by this, and the fact that you made it all up just makes it more captivating. I love tales about nonexistent literature. Best since Borges.
Also I collect NYRB Classics, but they’ve put out so many it’s hard to keep up, and I was totally ready to go seek out Mary Sterling’s novel, ha ha.
Wow, you completely fooled me. I love your essays on subjects like The Saturday Evening Post, Richard Howard, and other corners of literary history. This one fits right in, however imagined it might be. Maybe you’ve invented a new genre: fictional literary history.
Richard Howard? Why isn't there a Collected Poems...
Sigh. I meant Robert E. Howard. I think Richard Howard’s poems celebrating barbarian musclemen have fortunately been forever lost to history.
Unless, of course, Naomi manages to uncover some of them . . .
There were several Howard anthologies published in the 1970s, in paperback by Zebra Books, which included poetry. I love Howard's poems. They are not about "musclemen" they are melancholy poems about the frailty of life and the fleetingness of fame and victory. Here's one:
When I was a soldier, the kettledrums they beat.
The people scattered gold-dust before my horses feet.
Now I am a great king. The people hound my track,
With poison in my wine-cup, and daggers at my back!
I memorized that about 45 years ago, and it is still great!
I was referring to a different poet, named Richard Howard, who was also a literary critic. Or, I misnamed Robert E. as Richard in my first post. Richard was a VERY different sort of writer, so I was making a weak joke about my initial mistake.
I loved the Conan stories when I was a lad.
All to the good. I got to quote the REH poem.
I was a huge REH fan as well, and not just Conan, all of it!
I never heard of Richard Howard.
Well, yes, there IS Borges. But still—we’ll done!
You write very well. I assumed 100% that what you wrote was genuine history. The characters were real in my mind. Well done.
You had me right up to the reveal! The petty rivalries, the peculiar obsessions, all spot-on for the scenes surrounding genres and subgenres of fiction. I would definitely read more fictional literary history.
You had me until very near the end, and not because it was not believable, but because I have been a fan of this sort of thing all my life and I would have heard of Lonely Island Adventures.
Brilliant job, and only wish it were all true, so we could read the anthology!
And I was wondering if you would talk about Gilligan's Island ...
I should have known I was getting punked. _Lonely Island_. *snort*
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GI6CfKcMhjY
Interesting! Especially the enduring militant venom of Katie Zellig. I didn't guess either.
What a lovely read! I'm a huge fan of micro-histories of literary subgenres so you had me fooled for a good while with this one.