Writers already forgotten

It sounds almost paradoxical. I have heard the occasional writer say that one of his motivations when writing is to leave something for posterity, so that it remains after he passes away. That is, they write in part with a certain vain and narcissistic gesture (which is respectable) so that after their death, something of theirs, something of him or her will last forever, and in a certain way, they will be remembered for it. And going back to the first sentence that I have written, it sounds almost paradoxical, because the article that I bring you today is curiously from 2 American writers and an Austrian writer already forgotten.

I could mention quite a few more, but already my partner Alberto Piernas did very well in this article that I recommend, where he mentions 5 other forgotten writers. In my case, I bring you a little of the life and work of these 3 American writers of whom we hardly even remember: Vicki Baum, Erskine Caldwell, and Pearl S. Buck.

Who was Vicki Baum?

Vicki Baum (1888-1960) was Austrian by birth, but the Nazi horror led her to soon move to the United States, where she would also die. You know who Greta Garbo was, right? Well, he is the one who gave life cinematrographically speaking to a character in his book «Grand Hotel». This author wrote quite a few novels, most of them related to her travels and encounters.

It was as questioned and criticized as it was praised. Part of the critics thought of her literary work that it was trivial and lazy, however the other part said of her and her writings that they were strong and endowed with a great personality.

Erskine Caldwell

This writer born in Georgia in 1903 and died in 1987. He is known above all for his famous work "God's plot" (1933), located between southern Gothic and militant literature. What happened to this author and that is why he is not so well known today is that he was overshadowed at the time by two other great authors of the time: William Faulkner and John Steinbeck.

It neither had an impact on her day nor has it subsequently had on her. It was reissued by the publisher Navona but without much success.

Pearl S. Buck

The case of the American writer Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973) is even more puzzling, since at least she won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938.

Pearl spent 40 years of her life living in China. From the eastern country he drew infinity of influences for his works and his quality was recognized with this Nobel Prize for Literature. It was published for many years but there came a time when they stopped doing it, in a totally inexplicable way. To this day, no Spanish publisher has taken this writer into account to do it again.