First off, to be fair, I have a huge knee jerk reaction any time the word ‘literature’ comes up. This is primarily based off of my initial experience with the word, when I took a ‘Great Literature’ class in high school. One of the stories that we were to critique was ‘Barn Burning’ by Faulkner. Well, that particular piece of mushroom fertilizer and the indignant response when I panned it, together left me with the impression that ‘literature’ meant you were an elitist snob, too busy being stuck up to do anything more than be elitist.
Secondly, the whole idea that it is literature versus genre is ridiculous. Look up the words and tell me what you find. That’s right. Literature means that it is written art, and genre means that it is a kind of literary art. Even the ‘literature’ snobs write in a genre, even if it just happens to be the ‘literature’ genre. Genre has been co-opted to mean not-reality, but somehow even that definition includes thrillers and mysteries. And romance. And, in my not at all humble opinion, ‘literature’. (It is fiction, after all.)
So, of course, I find the idea that ‘literature’ is character based and ‘genre’ is plot based to be categorically ridiculous. I mean, ‘literature’ is a genre and I cannot think of a single interesting story in any genre, including literature, that is good AND is not character based.*
Actually, I think I finally interpreted what that means and it is, of course, another example of being an elitist priss for the sake of being elite. What the ‘literature’ writer means when she says that ‘literature’ is character based is that it has no plot. It isn’t that the so-called genre works aren’t character based that offends her, it is that it has a plot. The idea that the world moves around, within, and without the characters is contrary to her fantasy life, the one that she is writing when she writes in her ‘literature’ genre. It is stuck up and snobby, but at least that one finally makes sense to me now. I don’t agree with it at all, but I can feel pity instead of anger.
And the idea that it is lit authors who make the money and the genre ones are stuck in a ghetto: ridiculous. The top 5 right now are a thriller (The Lost Symbol), a collection of vampire short stories (!!) (A Touch of Dead), historical fiction (The Help), a hard-boiled mystery (The Professional), and a “contemporary” (The Last Song.) Three of the five are with no doubt genre. I have seen historical fiction listed as one of the genres. That leaves just “The Last Song” and I have never read anything “contemporary” so I’m not sure how to class that one. Still, it sure looks like the genre authors should be feeling pity on their lower class literature writing buddies. Poor guys don’t even have a chance.
But, well… Like I said, I have a knee jerk reaction just to the word. Maybe I’m just reacting too emotionally.
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*Please don’t bring up drabbles and other flash. They belong in a different category altogether. Specifically, they belong in flash fiction.
