Antaeus magazine

Antaeus magazine’s “Neglected Books of the 20th Century”

Beginning its Summer, 1975 issue, Antaeus, a literary magazine edited by Daniel Halpern, published an intermittent series titled, “Neglected Books of the Twentieth Century,” in which a variety of poets, fiction writers, and publishers nominated titles they considered neglected.

This series eventually led Halpern to reissued a number of titles suggested here and elsewhere under his book publishing company, Ecco Press. A list of the titles released in Ecco’s “Neglected Classics” series can be found under “Sources” to the right.

• Act of Darkness, John Peale Bishop — selected by Allen Tate
• Alamein to Zem Zem, Keith Douglas — selected by Paul Fussell
• Alfred and Guinevere, James Schuyler — selected by William Weaver
• Ali and Nino, Kurban Said — selected by Barbara Howes
• Animal House, Jean Garrigue — selected by Barbara Howes
• The Art of Making Sausages, Pates and Other Charcuterie, Jane Grigson — selected by Julia Child
• Astragal, Albertine Sarrazin — selected by John Fowles
• Aurelien, Louis Aragon — selected by Piers Paul Read
• An Autobiography, Edwin Muir — selected by Richard Wilbur
• The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian, Nirad Chaudhuri — selected by Paul Theroux
• Auto-da-fe, Elias Canetti — selected by D.J. Enright
• A Bad Man, Stanley Elkin — selected by Stanley Elkin
• Basic Verities, Charles Peguy — selected by Eugene McCarthy
• Beasts and Men, Pierre Gascar — selected by Georges Borchardt
• Beer at the Snooker Club, Waguih Ghali — selected by Barbara Howes
• The Blue Flowers, Raymond Queneau — selected by New Directions Classics
• The Boarding House, William Trevor — selected by Stanley Elkin
• The Book of Marriage, Hermann von Keyserling — selected by Gail Godwin
• The Camel, Gerald H. Berners — selected by Edward Gorey
• Cards of Identity, Nigel Dennis — selected by Richard Wilbur
• The Centurians, Jean Larteguy — selected by Eugene McCarthy
• The Characters of Love, John Bayley — selected by Robert Boyers
• The Chinese Nail Murders, Robert van Gulik — selected by Jon Anderson
• Collected Poems, Edwin Arlington Robinson — selected by Robert Pack
• The Collected Poems, H. Phelps Putnam — selected by James Wright
• Collected Poems, Ruth Pitter — selected by George P. Elliott
• The Collected Works of Jane Bowles, Jame Bowles — selected by Ned Rorem
• Confessions, Aleister Crowley — selected by Alexander Theroux
• Confessions of Zeno, Italo Svevo — selected by D.J. Enright
• Creative Evolution, Henri Bergson — selected by Marvin Cohen
• Crossroads, James McConkey — selected by Alison Lurie
• The Culture of Cities, Lewis Mumford — selected by Eugene McCarthy
• A Curtain of Green, Eudora Welty — selected by Nadine Gordimer
• The Dada Painters and Poets, Robert Motherwell, ed. — selected by Virgil Thomson
• The Dead of the House, Hannah Green — selected by Willard Trask
• Death of a Hero, Richard Aldington — selected by Frank MacShane
• Degrees, Michael Butor — selected by Georges Borchardt
• The Destiny of Isabelle Eberhardt, Cecily Mackworth — selected by Daniel Halpern
• The Devil Rides Outside, John H. Griffin — selected by R.G. Vliet
• The Diary of Helena Morley, Helena Morley — selected by Barbara Howes
• Dick Gibson Show, Stanley Elkin — selected by Georges Borchardt
• Digging Out, Ann Richardson — selected by Alison Lurie
• Dom Casmurro, Machado de Assis — selected by Piers Paul Read
• The Dying Self, Charles Fair — selected by Robert Bly
• Eimi, E.E. Cummings — selected by Dwight MacDonald
• The Empty Fortress: Infantile Autism and the Birth of the Self, Bruno Bettelheim — selected by Francois Truffaut
• Essays and Introductions, William Butler Yeats — selected by Eugene McCarthy
• European Thought in the Eighteenth Century, Paul Hazard — selected by Carlos Fuentes
• The Exaggerations of Peter Prince, Steve Katz — selected by Ronald Sukenick
• The Exquisite Corpse, Alfred Chester — selected by Ned Rorem
• Fade Out, Douglas Woolf — selected by Ronald Sukenick
• Fantasia of the Unconscious, D.H. Lawrence — selected by Robert Bly
• Fellow Teachers, Philip Rieff — selected by Robert Boyers
• The Feminine in Fairytales, Marie Louise Franz — selected by Robert Bly
• Fergus, Brian Moore — selected by Alison Lurie
• The Forgotten Soldier, Guy Sajer — selected by Paul Fussell
• The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, Franz Werfel — selected by D.J. Enright
• The Gallery, John Horne Burns — selected by Edmund Kelley
• The Gentle Grafter, O. Henry — selected by Dwight MacDonald
• The Greater Infortune, Rayner Heppenstall — selected by Edward Gorey
• A Green Tree in Gedde, Alan Sharp — selected by Daniel Halpern
• Hanger Stout, Awake, Jack Matthews — selected by William Stafford
• His Monkey Wife, John Collier — selected by Paul Theroux
• The Homeric Gods, Walter F. Otto — selected by Sanford Friedman
• The Horseman on the Roof, Jean Giono — selected by George P. Elliott
• A House for Mr. Biswas, V.S. Naipaul — selected by Paul Theroux
• The Huge Season, Wright Morris — selected by John Martin
• Humanities, Desmond MacCarthy — selected by Leon Edel
• The Idea of a Theatre, Francis Fergusson — selected by Allen Tate
• The Impossible Adventure, Alain Gheerbrant — selected by Frank MacShane
• The Inheritors, Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox Ford — selected by William Burroughs
• Initial A, David Schubert — selected by Theodore Weiss
• The Jargon of Authenticity, Theodor Adorno — selected by Marvin Cohen
• The Job, William Burroughs — selected by Allen Ginsburg
• The Joint, James Blake — selected by George Plimpton
• Journal of a Disappointed Man, W.N.P. Barbellion — selected by James Dickey
• Krazy Kat, George Herriman — selected by Clarence Brown
• Kristin Lavransdatter, Sigrid Undset — selected by Alexander Theroux
• Langrishe, Go Down, Aidan Higgins — selected by Joseph McElroy
• Language as Gesture, R.P. Blackmur — selected by Edmund Kelley
• The Language Poets Use, Winifred Nowotiny — selected by Fred Levinson
• The Last of the Curlews, Fred Bodsworth — selected by Donald Finkel
• The Life and Work of Semmelweis, Louis-Ferdinand Celine — selected by Annie Gottlieb
• The Life of Captain Cook, J.C. Beaglehole — selected by Geoffrey Moorhouse
• The Loom of History, Herbert Muller — selected by Peter Glenville
• The Lost Girl, D.H. Lawrence — selected by Joyce Carol Oates
• The Lost Steps, Alejo Carpentier — selected by Donald Finkel
• The Loved and the Envied, Enid Bagnold — selected by Howard Moss
• Man and Boy, Wright Morris — selected by Richard Wilbur
• Man and Crisis, Jose Ortega y Gasset — selected by Robert Bly
• The Man Who Killed the Deer, Frank Waters — selected by Ronald Sukenick
• The Man Who Killed the Deer, Frank Waters — selected by William Stafford
• The Man Who Loved Children, Christina Stead — selected by Robert Boyers
• A Man’s Place, Ramon Sender — selected by George P. Elliott
• The Margin, Andre Pieyre de Mandiargues — selected by Nadine Gordimer
• Maurice Guest, Henry Handel Richardson — selected by George P. Elliott
• Memoirs of Hadrian, Marguerite Yourcenar — selected by Jon Anderson
• The Mind and Face of Bolshevism, Rene Fulop-Miller — selected by Peter Glenville
• Mobile: Study for a Representation of the United States, Michel Butor — selected by Joseph McElroy
• Money for Love, Josephine Herbst — selected by Elizabeth Hardwick
• Monsieur Ripois and Nemesis, Louis Hermon — selected by Francois Truffaut
• Moving On, Larry McMurty — selected by Cynthia Buchanan
• Mrs. Egg and Other Americans, Thomas Beer — selected by Glenway Wescott
• Music in a New Found Land: Themes and Developments in the History of American Music, Wilfred H. Mellers — selected by Aaron Copland and Virgil Thomson
• My Friend from Limousin, Jean Giradoux — selected by Philip Lyman
• The Naked Year, Boris Pilnyak — selected by Sanford Friedman
• Negative Dialectics, Theodor Adorno — selected by Marvin Cohen
• Negro Anthology, Nancy Cunard — selected by Virgil Thomson
• Nicholas Crabbe, Frederick Rolfe — selected by Alexander Theroux
• No Name in the Streets, Kay Cicellis — selected by Edmund Kelley
• No Resting Place, Eugene Mirabelli — selected by George Starbuck
• The Notebooks of Captain Georges, Jean Renoir — selected by Francois Truffaut
• The Notebooks of Henry James, Henry James, ed. F.O. Matthiessen and Kenneth B. Murdock — selected by Francois Truffaut
• The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge, Rainer Maria Rilke — selected by Nancy Ryan
• Nothing is Sacred, Josephine Herbst — selected by Elizabeth Hardwick
• Nothing More to Declare, John Clellon Holmes — selected by William Harrison
• Novels, Henry Green — selected by Daniel Halpern
• Nowhere But Light, Ben Belitt — selected by Robert Boyers
• The Old House, Feodor Solgub — selected by Sanford Friedman
• An Old Icelandic Medical Miscellany, Larsen Henning — selected by Brian Swann
• On Shame and the Search for Identity, Helen Lynd — selected by Cynthia Buchanan
• Orkney Norm, Hugh Marwick — selected by Brian Swann
• The Other America: Poverty in the United States, Michael Harrington — selected by Eugene McCarthy
• Parties, Carl Van Vechten — selected by Truman Capote
• Pedro Paramo, Juan Rulfo — selected by Carlos Fuentes
• The Peregrine, J.A. Baker — selected by Howard Moss
• A Philosophy of Solitude, John Cowper Powys — selected by James Purdy
• The Pilgrim on the Earth, Julian Green — selected by William Burroughs
• The Plant, The Well, The Angel, Vassilis Vassilikos — selected by Edmund Kelley
• Poesias Completas y el minutero, Ramon Lopez Velarde — selected by Donald Justice
• Poetry, John Peale Bishop — selected by Edmund Kelley
• Pornografia, Witold Gombrowicz — selected by Piers Paul Read
• The Process, Brion Gysin — selected by William Burroughs
• The Professor’s House, Willa Cather — selected by Daniel Hoffman
• A Progress of Stories, Laura Riding — selected by Kenneth Rexroth
• Return to Laughter, Eleanor Smith Bowen — selected by Donald Finkel
• Rome Beyond the Imperial Frontiers, Sir Mortimer Wheeler — selected by Emma Swan
• Rosa at Ten O’Clock, Marco Denevi — selected by Barbara Howes
• Ryder, Djuna Barnes — selected by Kenneth Rexroth
• Saving the Appearances, Owen Barfield — selected by Richard Wilbur
• Science and the Modern World, Alfred North Whitehead — selected by Robert D. Seeley
• Sea of Glass, Dennis Parry — selected by Edward Gorey
• The Secret Sayings of Jesus, Jesus Christ — selected by Robert Bly
• Sens-Plastique, Malcolm de Chazal — selected by Richard Wilbur
• Seven Days at the Silversteins, Etienne Leroux — selected by Paul Theroux
• The Slide Area, Gavin Lambert — selected by Ned Rorem
• Slowly, by Thy Hand Unfurled, Romulus Linney — selected by Reynolds Price
• Smara: Forbidden City, Michel Vieuchange — selected by Daniel Halpern
• A Smuggler’s Bible, Joseph McElroy — selected by Georges Borchardt
• Some People, Harold Nicolson — selected by Alexander Theroux
• The Soul of the White Ant, Eugene Marais — selected by Joseph McElroy
• The Story of a Novel, Thomas Wolfe — selected by Cynthia Buchanan
• Susan Lenox, Her Fall and Rise, David Graham Phillips — selected by David Madden
• Suzanne and the Pacific, Jean Giradoux — selected by Georges Borchardt
• Tay John, Howard O’Hagan — selected by Joyce Carol Oates
• Terence Duke, Edward Meyerstein — selected by Edward Gorey
• Theatre Practice, Stark Young — selected by Sanford Friedman
• Themis, Jane Harrison — selected by Sanford Friedman
• They Came Like Swallows, William Maxwell — selected by Robert Fitzgerald
• The Thief’s Journal, Jean Genet — selected by Francois Truffaut
• The Things That are Not Caesar’s, Jacques Maritain — selected by Peter Glenville
• Three Wogs, Alexander Theroux — selected by Alexander Theroux
• Tibet and Nepal, Arnold H. Landor — selected by Frank MacShane
• Time Will Darken It, William Maxwell — selected by Howard Moss
• Tobit Transplanted, Stella Benson — selected by D.J. Enright
• Torchbearer, Harry Crosby — selected by Brian Swann
• Towards Democracy, Edward Carpenter — selected by Allen Ginsburg
• The Trapper’s Last Stand, John Yount — selected by George P. Elliott
• Turbott Wolfe, William Plomer — selected by Nadine Gordimer
• The Underground City, H.L. Humes — selected by Ted Morgan
• V.R. Lang, a Memoir, Alison Lurie — selected by Ned Rorem
• The Velvet Horn, Andrew Lytle — selected by John Hawkes
• The Village in the Jungle, Leonard Woolf — selected by Paul Theroux
• Voss, Patrick White — selected by Emma Swan
• The Warm Country, Donald Windham — selected by Truman Capote
• The Ways of the Will, Leslie H. Farber — selected by Robert Boyers
• Who He?, Alfred Bester — selected by Samuel Delany
• Wisdom, Madness and Folly: The Philosophy of a Lunatic, John Custance — selected by Joseph McElroy
• Within That House, Fanny Sedgwick Colby — selected by Emma Swan