A Reader’s Manifesto: Literary darlings actually suck at writing?

July 15, 2009

I was at a bookshop one day, and a friend and I spotted a table piled with stacks of award-winning books. My friend, who worked in a bookstore, leaned close to me and whispered, as if she was about to say something really naughty: “I think they’re really boring.”

Oh vey, yes. You don’t get much argument from me about this.

I’ve long held the suspicion that a lot (not all) of  “literary” books are rather … crap. Of course, you don’t say this out loud in the company of the cultural/literary intelligensia, who not only dig these books but breathe it, quoting passages like how evangelists quote passages from the Bible.

Okay, I jest. But there’s always been this “understanding” that literary books are “better”, “finer” and of a higher standard than “genre” fiction, and if you don’t “get” literary fiction, that means you’re not intelligent or “deep” enough to appreciate them. This silly belief always gets on my nerves.

First: who created this silly divide between “literary” and “genre” fiction anyway? Why can’t we just call them fiction? Why are some type of books – science fiction and fantasy being one – given so little respect? Why are some books elevated to stratospheric levels despite being unreadable and dull?

Second: If readers can’t understand nor get through your book, doesn’t that mean that you’ve failed as a storyteller? Why then sniff at them, your audience, and say that they’re just too stupid to appreciate it? This, by the way was what Toni Morisson did when Oprah remarked that she had a tough time understanding a lot of what Morisson wrote.

Morrison’s reply was: “That, my dear, is called reading.”

BR Myers (who I will talk about very soon) begs to differ: “Sorry, my dear Toni, but it’s actually called bad writing,” he says in his 2001 essay, A Reader’s Manifesto.

If you’ve suffered through bad novels disguised as prize-winning literature, this is a very comforting and validating essay to read. (He expanded his essay into a book too.)

Myers says that the American literary fiction scene is dominated by “sentence cults” who are more enamoured with stylistically “unique” sentences (to him – horrible sentences) than a good story.

Here are some tough words from Myers:

Everything written in self-conscious, writerly prose, on the other hand, is now considered to be “literary fiction”—not necessarily good literary fiction, mind you, but always worthier of respectful attention than even the best-written thriller or romance. It is these works that receive full-page critiques, often one in the Sunday book-review section and another in the same newspaper during the week. It is these works, and these works only, that make the annual short lists of award committees. The “literary” writer need not be an intellectual one.

Many critically acclaimed novels today are no more than mediocre “genre” stories told in a conformist amalgam of approved “literary” styles.

This is what the cultural elite wants us to believe: if our writers don’t make sense, or bore us to tears, that can only mean that we aren’t worthy of them.

The literary fiction scene is suffering from a case of “Emperor’s New Clothes”, with the emperor being the overrated literary darlings of the day, the reviewers and publishers the syncophantic courtiers and people like BR Myers the little kid who dared to tell it as it is: The Emperor has no clothes!

Sad to say, the “disease” that Myers talks of is also here in Malaysia. (In an interview with the Atlantic, he says that this is actually an international phenomenon.)

I’ve picked up short story compilations like MPH’s Urban Odysseys, and to put it very bluntly, I found most of the stories in it abysmally boring. One managed to seriously offend me in its first sentence. I also picked up Shih-Li Kow’s Ripples, and found that although the short stories were beautifully crafted they left me empty and unsatisfied. We’re told that these are the best of the best, but why am I not convinced?

Judging from my rant, I won’t blame you if you: a) want to throw a shoe at me for my philistine ways b) think I don’t know what I’m talking about b) think that I’ve not read literary fiction in my life.

The truth is I have a very eclectic reading palette: I read what some may consider “serious” fiction authors (Su Tong, F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Orwell, Katherine Mansfield, Guy de Maupassant and Rudyard Kipling are among my favourite authors), and I also read “genre” fiction – crime (Michael Connelly wins!), fantasy (cheers to Robin Hobb) and science fiction (Marion Zimmer Bradley!). Non-fiction forms a large part of my library as well (I seem to gravitate towards books about food shortages, economic turmoil and ecological disasters). I also read the entire works of Shakespeare by the time I graduated university, thanks to my fantastic literature lecturer.

The point of the list is that I think, as a reader, I can be a pretty good judge on what’s a good story. And sadly, a lot of literary fiction bore me to tears.

The point is: If you think a book is bad, it’s probably because it really sucks.

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Old comments

Elizabeth Tai 12 years ago · 0 Likes

This is why I now depend on blogs, rather than the “old guard” of good taste like the NY Times for reviews on books … but then again, it is really difficult to say. Case in point – the much hailed “The Passage”. Blogs raved about it too. I opened the book, fully confident that I’ll have a roaring good time but ended up so annoyed and bored by the book that I wondered what the reviewers were smoking.

Joel Paul 12 years ago · 0 Likes

After reading BR Myers review of new food nonfiction books in the current issue of the Atlantic, which gave foodies a swift kick, I quickly pulled up A Reader’s Manifesto and read most of it. It gave me a feeling of confidence, knowing that I wasn’t the only one out there who wanted to like the Border Trilogy (hindsight showed me that I just wanted to be a part of the club), but didn’t. I have long been afflicted with Holden Caulfield-itis; when I read or hear dialogue that is overcrafted, I shout “phony!” I read The Road, but I was proud to tell my friends that I did not like it. My confidence has been further bolstered by discovering that it is still ok to talk about how much I like Moby Dick, and that in that last year I discovered Wallace Stegner. Angle of Repose is a game-changer, in my mind, of how a novel can be so rich and well-told, while still being accessible.

This story is as old as time. The cultural elite think they have. and would like to keep the upper hand. As us plebians have steadily gained access to art, ideas, and religion over the past 500 years, and so to keep the upper hand, the bar for “cutting edge” will continue to get stranger and stranger from our perspective.

Imaginary Lands 13 years ago · 0 Likes

I think whether we think a book is good or not is subjective, and it truly depends on a person’s taste. My taste doesn’t run towards Ripples, unfortunately. Yes, I do know that her book has been shortlisted. I’m just saying that currently, the Malaysian literati seem to recognise a narrow range of writing and story types as ‘good’. I read all the ‘award-winning’ stories and I get frustrated as I don’t discover anything new or exciting. I suppose I share Myers’ view on literature.

By the way, my work has been published already 

But never mind. Why don’t we just talk rationally instead of throwing insults at each other, right?

hahaha 13 years ago · 0 Likes

“I also picked up Shih-Li Kow’s Ripples, and found that although the short stories were beautifully crafted they left me empty and unsatisfied. We’re told that these are the best of the best, but why am I not convinced?” Now that Shih-Li’s Ripples is SHORTLISTED for Frank O’ Connors prize, it shows that you really don’t recognize a good book even when it smacks you on your face. Hahaha!

Keep on dreaming of getting your work published, but do be such a sour grape!

RmH 13 years ago · 0 Likes

Bad writing wins prizes all the time in the incestuous, self congratulatory literary world. Merit is assigned by the individual reader, not by commitee.

imaginarylands 14 years ago · 0 Likes

Michelle Richmond is certainly a writer I’d look out for and thank you for recommending the website. It looks like an awesome website!! I think Alice Sebold is another writer I really admire for her lovely writing and ability to write an engaging and fascinating story with great characters and a good plot … not to mention how she’s successfully blended genres.

Wendy Nelson Tokunaga 14 years ago · 0 Likes

I agree that with literary fiction some of the time the emperor is wearing no clothes and I too wish that the term “fiction” was enough of a descriptor instead of trying to determine what is “literary” and what is “genre.” An author who seems to straddle both well is Michelle Richmond. You may want to read “The Year of Fog” and “No One You Know.” Beautifully crafted writing with good plots and characterization. However, if you’re looking for an MA or MFA program you should do your research carefully as to what the school’s take is on literary vs. genre or you could be quite miserable.  I’m only familiar with U.S. programs (I earned my MFA at University of San Francisco). A good source of info on MFA programs in the U.S. is the American-based magazine “Poets and Writers.” They are on the Web too at http://www.pw.org. Good luck!