Saturday, January 22, 2011

Literary Fiction: Tastes Good and Good For You!

Where do story ideas come from? What sparks a story? Obviously, there's no single answer, or even class of answers. One challenge writers of fiction face is the fact that there are infinite possible stories. The trick is to cut down the numbers to something more manageable. That is what a good story spark does: it narrows the possibilities. An image, a few suggestive words or a phrase, a "what if", a name or face of a character, some simple action out of context. Through training and creative openness, any of these may suggest a story line, even if vaguely. The rest is discovery, like mining for gold.

To serious writers, that gold is meaning. I may tell a million stories and none of them be worth the time it takes to type them. Better for everyone if the story that emerges has some significance, some resonance to the reader, some reason for being told. It may instruct or entertain or tickle memories or ideas in ways that leave readers a bit more willing to explore the question of who they are as humans.

Stories about real people, then, are important. Stories about our peculiarities, our habits and culture and the assumptions upon which we try, sometimes feebly, sometimes with confidence, to build our identities.

Drama is a useful tool for this end. Small or large, conflicts which our characters succeed or fail in overcoming always teach us something of ourselves. Vicarious beings that we are, they are also highly entertaining, especially if they are believable. Situations you or I might actually find ourselves in, and the struggles to survive or thrive when our needs are threatened, that's the stuff of good stories.

Literary stories differ from others only in that the drama, while still present, is dampened down to a level closer to our daily reality, while character choices and actions result in multi-level revelations about those characters. Minimal or moderate drama, along with layered truths, often subtle, doth good literature make. None of us are simple creatures, though few of us are blessed (or cursed) with insight to our true natures. The power and importance of a story increases as it reveals more complex truths about us. Literary stories seem to emerge from a great stew of knowledge and experience. They give us glimpses of truths about ourselves we would rarely experience otherwise. They do so, however, at the expense of being less entertaining, at least to most readers. The exceptions are skilled readers who are broadly educated in the liberal arts and psychology, and who are, as a result, erudite, reflective, critically self-aware and philosophical. Such readers, familiar with the work of the world's greatest thinkers, have access to a broad range of values and ideas, and are well equipped to synthesize concepts, see patterns, and see through bullshit. To these readers, great stories are not only deeply meaningful, they are also highly entertaining, in ways that simpler stories cannot be. Great stories not only taste good, they are truly nourishing.

Unfortunately, to less well trained readers, this may seem elitist. No one wants to feel judged for her skill level, especially regarding something which seems trivial and no more than light entertainment. And quite right. Light entertainment has its place in our culture too. It may be useful to remember that skilled readers know better than to judge others, and similarly, deserve no judgment from others. Some love sports, some soaps, some talk shows, some Star Trek or fantasy novels. And some love the chewy intellectual challenge and literary delights of a Nabokov or Dostoevsky or Huxley or Graham Green. And some love both high and low culture equally. It's all good.

10 comments:

  1. Interesting post and insight into literary fiction. I would replace the educational reference with one on intelligence, but otherwise I agree wholeheartedly. Thanks for sharing it. ~ Olivia

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  2. Olivia, I generally agree, but "intelligence" is a huge puzzle for me at the moment. There are so many different kinds of intelligence. To the extent that "intelligence" leads to insatiable curiosity and non-judgmental observation and analysis, yes. Thanks for reading!

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  3. Thoughtful commentary, this. I do read a lot and I think the best of any author's writing is literary in style. Think back to anything you've read that rolled your socks up and down and it is the writer's humanity showing through that got you. Genre labeling of any really good story comes in merely as seasoning.
    Thanks for prompting me to think.

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  4. Go Mike! I loved this post. You're totally right. You think good!

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  5. Thanks for this post Mike. I always think literary fiction is in the choice of words and images rather than pedestrian style which can be very entertaining in its own way.

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  6. You offer one of the more asute descriptions I've read on the nature of literary fiction. Much of what I read that is presented as "literary" is a great fat bore. It seems precious and self-important. Great literature, on the other hand, can rise from any genre, including the more nuanced literary offerings. And you're absolutely right. Great reads make good eatin' on the ride and nourish the mind for a long time after. Thanks!

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  7. I don't know how far along I come with you on this. "Good fiction" and "literary fiction" are not the same thing. Conventional literary fiction deliberately eschews drama, plot and other basic conventions in order such that the author may explore however he or she feels like it. Most of it is self-indulgent garbage, and as you get closer to the worthwhile literary fiction there is still quite a bit of melancholy and myopic negativity that only serve as illusions of depth. Some literary fiction is great - but there are also quite profound and spiritually nourishing Fantasy novels, a genre which in your final paragraph you seem to lump in with junk culture. I've seen episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation that were philosophically deeper than most of the New Yorker short stories I read last year. And Aldous Huxley, who you name as one of the nourishing authors, is most famous for a SciFi classic about a make-believe future that didn't happen. Huxley also didn't eschew the functions of fiction - what happened, how his characters developed and how they ended up mattered a great deal. It's quite possible to do the job of storyteller and entertainer while providing things to ponder. Great literature does this. If we agree on that, then we're at least brothers in arms, even if we read different things.

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  8. "melancholy and myopic negativity that only serve as illusions of depth" ... very sharp and accurate observation, John. Truth is I agree with about everything you've said, and L'Aussie and Sammi too. Huxley's Brave New World and Island I found highly entertaining but also very deep philosophically, and thought provoking. It's all in what we mean by words like "literary" and "genre" and even "great", I suppose. Thanks for contributing to the discussion.

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  9. Love your insights Mike. One thing I see a lot in my professional life and elsewhere, is that a lot of people want to call themselves writers without actually taking the time to learn or read anything. They think that simply stringing together sentences puts them on the same plane as Dickens or Shakespeare. The thing is, no matter what our abilities are, we are all still learning and must strive to keep learning and improving. There is no level where you're just there and can sit back and just be. Writing takes work. It's joyous work, but it can also be challenging, frustrating and heartbreaking. But those are necessary sacrifices that writers are willing to make to hone their craft.

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