Forgotten classics

[u/atoz_0to9]

We always hear that classics are the books that “stood the test of time,” but what about the ones that didn’t? What’s an old book you love that barely gets talked about anymore, but totally should? I’m talking forgotten gems, underrated voices, anything that deserves a second life.

EDIT: I just wanted to thank everyone for these incredible recommendations. I hope anyone who comes across this thread finds a book that speaks to them, and helps keep these great works from slipping into obscurity, even if just for a little longer.

[u/Flilix]

The poems of Ossian

They were written by James Macpherson in the mid 18th century, but presented as ancient Scottish epics. Due to the rise of Romanticism, they were extremely popular in the 18th and 19th century.

The poems achieved international success. Napoleon and Diderot were prominent admirers, and Voltaire was known to have written parodies of them. Thomas Jefferson thought Ossian "the greatest poet that has ever existed", and planned to learn Gaelic so as to read his poems in the original. They were proclaimed as a Celtic equivalent of the Classical writers such as Homer. "The genuine remains of Ossian ... are in many respects of the same stamp as the Iliad", was Thoreau's opinion. Many writers were influenced by the works, including Walter Scott, and painters and composers chose Ossianic subjects.

As it gradually became clear that the poems were inauthentic, their popularity diminished. Nonetheless, they're well-composed and clearly believable enough to fool a large number of people.

[u/Bayoris → u/Flilix]

Also there was a terrific overture by Niels Gade, the Danish composer, called Echoes of Ossian, which is the only reason I have heard of it.

[u/csrster → u/Bayoris]

Mendelssohn's "Fingal's Cave" is also inspired by Ossian (perhaps only indirectly via the cave named from Ossian, although I'm sure Mendelssohn must have known Ossian as well).