Very Important Literature

[Tom Head]

The Guardian did an article earlier this week on the perceived decline of American literature. I agree with the gist of the article, but would argue that this phenomenon is not confined to America.

I think that the genre of literary fiction has been more-or-less torn to shreds by three factors: confessionalism (which I would describe as simple exhibitionism), elitism (if those people can read your books, you can't be that good), and the desire for rebellion against the Establishment (but it has to be the right Establishment, which is why nobody reads Isaac Bashevis Singer anymore).

This isn't to say that there aren't some diamonds in the rough--I notice the Guardian article doesn't mention Toni Morrison, for example, and her work is still excellent and literary--but I think literary fiction as a category may very well be doomed to the same fate as poetry: self-sustained and weighted down by confessionalism, the movement will eventually collapse under its own weight. The only way poetry will ever regain the credibility it had 30 years ago--and the literary novel the credibility it had 15 years ago--is if high-quality work is produced, work of such a high quality that it reaches outside of the literary community for support. In other words: if it's to be any more than a novelty act, literary fiction as a genre will have to become more popular.

Thoughts?


Cheers,

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Tom Head
www.tomhead.net