Recently, 2 Blowhards had a most interesting discussion on current trends in literary versus popular fiction, entitled Ira Levin Adds Value.
I found myself copying and saving (and savoring) both the entry and comments for future reference, and right now, I’m pretty frustrated with the fact that in the latest issue of a periodical of short stories, I feel myself almost angry at the authors and publishers for moving literature in a direction I find unenjoyable reading. I love to read. Especially right now, I was anxious to use reading as more than a way to catch up with contemporary writing; to find a place to escape reality. Why then, do I find myself putting the book down after every three pages read? It’s turning out to be more frustrating and stressful than real life.
Below is a summary by Michael of the points he was making:
* Typical popular fiction virtues: narrative drive, irresistible hooks, characters with juice. All of which are pretty basic to the health of fiction generally.
* Typical popular-fiction drawbacks: no sophistication, crude use of language, too little awareness of tone and qualities. The quarrel (semi-legit) with it tends to be that the “how the story gets told” side of things is underfed in popular fiction.
* Typical lit-fiction virtues: precision, interesting use of language and fiction-techniques — “how the story gets told” can often be fascinating. And there’s often an awareness of tone and mood that can be lovely.
* Typical lit-fiction drawbacks: making too much of “how the story gets told” at the expense of the basics of fiction: the story, the characters, the hook.
Readers of popular fiction are famous for “reading only for the story,” and for not caring about the quality of the writing itself. Readers of contemporary lit fiction are famous for being fascists about writing quality and morons about story.
Popular-fiction readers often buy brands (Patterson, King, Steel) and do so in bulk — publishers know that buyers of popular fiction like big thick books (value for your money!), but that read quickly (hence, lots of white space, thick paper), and a discount. It’s the Wal-Mart approach.
Readers of lit fiction often like self-consciously difficult or downbeat books, offbeat design, and a feeling that something of immense philosophical and artistic import is happening, and that the books they’re reading are tuning them into this.
I guess I find myself thinking three things, mainly:
* Popular-fiction writers and buffs could learn a little something from lit-fiction about tone and quality. But lit-fiction writers and buffs should learn a lot more respect for the virtues of popular fiction.
If you’ve missed the entire article and are interested, please find the time to check it out.
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