Literature. I’ve been seeing that word a lot lately: in Borders, in a thread about Stephen King…when I think of literature my mind is stuck in the classics/works that are canon, but from wandering around bookstores I notice that they’re sticking modern books (unfortunately the only one I can think of is that “Lovely bones” book) into their “literature” sections too.
So what has been written (jounals aside, books only please) within the last five years that is labeled as literature rather than merely fiction or non-fiction?
I think bookstores have stopped making the distinction because it doesn’t help and makes it more difficult for people trying to find a book that defies clear categorization into high or low art. There is alot of “literature” written every year. It’s pretty safe to say that the stuff that wins the Pulitzer among other prizes would be considered literature. Check out the Amazon award winners section.
Here are a few popular books written recently that would be considered literature:
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay, by Michael Chabon
The Corrections, by Dennis Franz
Empire Falls by Richard Russo
Atonement by McEwan
Literature are novels written in the literary genre, which has a set of unspoken rules (e.g., people are basically unhappy; relationships always fail; pretty sentences are always good; etc.) Thus bookstores can sort books into the literature genre the same way they can sort them into other genres like mystery or science fiction or fantasy or children’s or history.
Note that there is nothing wrong with writing in the literary genre, and there are some fine books in that area. What is wrong is when people assume that the literary genre is synonomous with “literature.”
“Literature” is such a loaded word, it means more to some people than to others… I think modern works can be classified as “literature” (as in, worthy of literary consideration) just as well as the classics can.
A few books I might include in my own personal “literature” category from the last five years…
The Athenian Murders by Jose Carlos Somoza Ordinary Horror by David Searcy All the Names by Jose Saramago (Nobel prize winner, but for a different book)
“Literature” does seem to be slanted towards works from more than fifty years ago - you’d never see anything by Nick Hornby show up in a Jeopardy category of the same name.
In recent literature, I’d add:
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
The Last Crossing by Guy Vanderhaeghe
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
Actually, it’s Jonathen Franzen - Dennis Franz is the cop from NYPD Blue.
I haven’t seen a bookstore with a “fiction” section in awhile. I was at a Barnes & Nobles on Sunday and they had a “Literature” section that was esstionally all “non-genre” fiction (i.e., everything that’s not sf/fantasy, romance, mystery, children’s, etc.). That section included everything from Henry Fielding to Tom Clancy (who I’d classify as being a writer of “thriller” or “spy” fiction, but I suppose that genre isn’t large enough to warrant its own seperate section). Placing a book in the literature section isn’t a comment on its quality.
I add a third to the nomination of the Michael Chabon book. I also nominate his novel Wonder Boys.
Other modern works of fiction that would fall into the category of serious literature include anything by John Updike, The Bonfire Of The Vanities by Tom Wolfe and the aforementioned The Corrections,
I’m going to have to put in one un-nomination for Michael Chabon’s “Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay”.
Not that I’m saying it’s not literature; I just wouldn’t recommend it to my worst enemy. But, and this helps in the definition of what is literature, I won’t say it isn’t literature because it is generally accepted as pure “literature”, in that it has a higher literary quality than, say, a Tom Clancy or John Grisham novel. That, I think, is really what designates “literature”; what the people in the “know” think, how it was received by critics and literary high-brows, and the awards it has won.
I will recommend whatever Salman Rushdie has done in the last five years because whatever the man writes is pure magic. His grocery list is probably considered literature.
The Perks of Being A Wallflower is very good, but people in their thirties and older will most likely have trouble relating to it. It’s sort of angsty and teenagery, which some people seem to be irritated with if they haven’t experienced/don’t remember it in their own lives.
The Lovely Bones was a good read, but easily the most disturbing thing I’ve read all year. shudder
I wondered if someone would mention that book It’s too bad that his latest book is a pricey limited edition…I suppose there’s hope that it will be so successful that someone else will publish it too.
It’s too bad that his latest book is a pricey limited edition…I suppose there’s hope that it will be so successful that someone else will publish it too.