Thanks.
I would start with Edward Dahlberg, a very eccentric American writer born in 1900, who wrote a lot of highly quirky books very few people read, was always obscure, but also wrote one masterpiece, his autobiograpy, at about the age of 60, Because I Was Flesh. (title taken from the Bible)
This is simply one of the great American books, period.
Ok, sounds very compelling. Thank you!