In this original collection, several of today's finest writers introduce little-known treasures of literature that they count among their favorite books. Here Toni Morrison celebrates a great Guinean storyteller whose novel of mystical adventure and surprising revelation transforms our image of Africa, while Susan Sontag raises the curtain on a distant summer when three of the greatest poets of the twentieth century exchanged love letters like no others. Here too John Updike analyzes the rare art of an English comic genius, Jonathan Lethem considers a hard-boiled and heartbreaking story of prison life, and Michael Cunningham uncovers the secrets of what may well be the finest short novel in modern American literature. Other contributors include such noted authors as Arthur C. Danto, Lydia Davis, Elizabeth Hardwick, Francine Prose, Luc Sante, Colm Tóibín, Eliot Weinberger, and James Wood.
 
Lucid, polished, provocative, inspiring, these essays are models of critical appreciation, offering personal, impassioned, thoughtful responses to a wide range of wonderful books. Unknown Masterpieces is a treat for all lovers of great writing and a useful and stimulating guidebook for readers eager to venture off literature's beaten tracks.
 
Eliot Weinberger on Hindoo Holiday by J.R. Ackerley
Arthur C. Danto on The Unknown Masterpiece by Honoré de Balzac
John Updike on Seven Men by Max Beerbohm
Jonathan Lethem on On the Yard by Malcolm Braly
Toni Morrison on The Radiance of the King by Camara Laye
Colm Tóibín on The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley
Francine Prose on A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes
Susan Sontag on Letters: Summer 1926 by Boris Pasternak, Marina Tsvetayeva, and Rainer Maria Rilke
Luc Sante on Classic Crimes by William Roughead
James Wood on The Golovlyov Family by Shchedrin
Elizabeth Hardwick on The Unpossessed by Tess Slesinger
Lydia Davis on The Life of Henry Brulard by Stendhal
Michael Cunningham on The Pilgrim Hawk by Glenway Wescott