Um, Write Too Little?

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This thread was spawned from Scott's re: writers who (may be thought to) write too much. How about those writers who you'd wish would write/have written more? And I'm not talking about someone like Sebald (though I'd love to), who you get the feeling would've written more if he'd had the chance.

I've always been marginally puzzled by Walter Abish. Is he lazy, a purist, or has he just run out of ideas? After reading In the Future Perfect and How German is it, I tried (and pretty much automatically expected to like) Eclipse Fever. But I couldn't get more than 50 pages into it. I can't even remember now why I felt so let down by it. But I've met other people who've had the same Abishproblem.

― David Joyner (David Joyner), Saturday, 13 March 2004 04:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Kurt Vonnegut. One of my favourite writers but infuriating in that a 180 page book can contain something like 78 brilliant but unexplored ideas, each dazzling enough to form a novel but just kind of glibbed onto the page and left behind.

― PuzzleMonkey (PuzzleMonkey), Saturday, 13 March 2004 06:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Lorrie Moore! In my greedy world, she writes a book a year.

― scott seward (scott seward), Saturday, 13 March 2004 11:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Geoff Dyer. He's written only three novels. His other books are annoying mixtures of perceptiveness and waffle that smack - he's open about it too - of desperately fulfilling commissioned tasks.

And I'm constantly frustrated that Raymond Chandler didn't write any more books than he did.

― Bunged Up. (Jake Proudlock), Saturday, 13 March 2004 12:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Um, let's see: Marylinne Robinson, whom I always talk about. Three books since 1980. What is that?!

― Phil Christman, Saturday, 13 March 2004 16:02 (twenty-two years ago)

If Barbara Neely doesn't write another Blanche White mystery soon my coworker and I are going to kidnap her.

And don't you wish Oscar Wilde had been able to... oh shit, I'm going to start crying.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Sunday, 14 March 2004 00:55 (twenty-two years ago)

This doesn't really count, but I'll say it anyway: there are too few books by Julio Cortazar that are translated into English well. He probably wrote the right amount of books, but Libro de Manuel and others are hard to find except hardback used, it'd be nice to have all of his collection of short pieces (although Around the Day in Eighty Worlds is ace, it's just a compilation) and all his poems, etc. etc.

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Sunday, 14 March 2004 02:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Jane Bowles
Richard Hughes

― Ryan McKay (Ryan McKay), Sunday, 14 March 2004 08:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Harper Lee. Sadly, her only novel is _To Kill a Mocking Bird_.

― Napkin, Monday, 15 March 2004 01:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Joseph Heller :-(

― Fred Pilcher, Monday, 15 March 2004 18:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Ralph Ellison. (*Juneteenth* doesn't count.)

― Not That Chuck, Monday, 15 March 2004 18:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Bernd Heinrich - an excellent nature writer.
Glen David Gold.
Tova Mirvis.
Ella Lefland.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 11:05 (twenty-two years ago)

And I'm constantly frustrated that Raymond Chandler didn't write any more books than he did.

I feel the same way about Chandler. Also Jane Austen. I know she would have tossed off at least two more masterpieces if she had lived another decade.

― Gail, Wednesday, 17 March 2004 17:41 (twenty-two years ago)

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