To be honest, sometimes I can't tell the difference between
a well written fiction book and a literary text. The differences can be too
abstract for the reader to clearly understand.
I just ran across this statement by Sonia Meyer: "Literature is when
after finishing the book, the characters remain" as well as other
statements to the effect of literature allows us to understanding
ourselves and help our hearts to know ourselves.
I have no essential problem with literature being classified
as books that reflect and explore what it is to be human but what book doesn't
in its own way do just that?
Even dictionaries are an in-depth exploration into ourselves
because all our words, our base mode of communicating, are written
down for us to search through whenever it pleases us. But less on
non-fiction which obviously explores what it is to be human by writing it down
as baldly as possible and more about the other fiction genres.
Standard fiction, if you could ever really get away with
calling it such, often does exactly the same thing as literature in terms of
humanity's self exploration and reflection but often includes more laughs,
off-the-wall adventures, distorted but illuminating reflections on uncommonly
approached subjects all packaged in light fluff that is extraordinarily hard to
write. Although I don't generally read general fiction, being a fantasy, sci-fi
and horror buff, I have to say there is a reason why so many people love a good
general fiction read. The themes, motifs, plot designs and devices are less
bogged down in earnest sole-searching and more into illuminating the play of
our world and our minds. Never underestimate the importance of play in what it
is to be human (that is another giant scientific subject in itself but really,
play is fundamental to humans both in the development of the individual and of
society).
Romance books explore what it is to love, obsess, hate,
desire, want, adore, need, crave or fall into a rut, find your place, establish
a home, build a nest, bring up a family and many other things besides, all
through either rose coloured glasses or very blue ones. Both rose and blue
viewpoints are valid as they are a part of out own instinctual pessimistic and
optimistic impulses. Although I find rose coloured viewpoints a little hard to
take due to my normally purple or blue viewpoint, I still believe romance
literature, as fluffy and annoying as it can be, is a valid and interesting
exploration into our hearts. It is often what we'd like to happen more than
what does but who of us doesn't dream of belonging somewhere and to someone? We
are beings that need such things on a fundamental level and to do without is
like losing a part of your humanity.
Crime novels explore our darker sides. Whether fictional or
true crime they reflect our worse desires, our animal side and where
civilisation breaks down due to greed, hate, revenge, desire, egoism and all
things dark to black in nature. We even call some of what is explored evil and
believe it either essential in our human makeup or in the universal makeup.
While I don't subscribe to the universal viewpoint or to 'evil' as such I do
see that our base animal instincts are not always a good fit with our higher
ideals for society. The mismatch and all the problems that come with it can rot
a person's character. The result is that we can and do commit crimes against
one another either individually or en masse. Both such occurrences are explored
in crime novels, the characters often reflecting the deepest and
most suppressed individual (and social) dark drives.
Fantasy books are one of the best formats for soul and heart
searching a human can possible use. Fantasy allows for an objective viewpoint
as well as a subjective, both often running parallel to a greater
extent than in any other form of literature. Absolutely any issue concerning
humanity can be explored, either through an outsider's view of another society
or through an insider's search for answers in a strange world. In fact, the
best fantasy books aren't ones based solely on fantastical events but on their
impact upon an individual or on society (or vice versa). Creation, destruction,
life, death, good, evil, lost, found, homeless, landed, greed, generosity,
love, hate and anything that can't be set as polarities such as our struggles
to survive, our instinctual drive for stability and a home, our need for
adventure and excitement, our mistakes and the pitfalls we often find ourselves
in because we were too keen. I cannot say enough for fantasy as a genre. It
ties everything together and can allow the writer free access, completely
without rules and boundaries, to explore any aspect of humanity conceivable.
The only matter to consider is whether a publisher will accept it for the mass
market. Only publishers will place any guidelines on what is acceptable in
fantasy, purely to ensure they sell enough of a particular book. But that is
the way it has to be as business is business and you can't make free art so
without some guiding principles.
Science-fiction is an interesting genre as it explores our
desire to logically explain the universe and all it contains at the very same
time as it explores our desire to play with it and break all the rules we do find.
There are certain rules to writing science-fiction but they are few and far
between, the most important of which is obviously that science is included
somewhere in the theme and structure. Science-fiction is a genre that has
allowed writers to explore what happens to humanity, to a society, to the world
and to the universe if something happens, usually a social, political or
technological change or event. The genre allows for and often reflects the
light with the dark, preferring purple to blue tinted glasses simply because
realism and pessimism go hand in hand with logic and preparedness. The isn't a
science-fiction work I know if that hasn't explored humanity's heart and sole
in some way, shape or form.
Horror books delve deep into our darkest nightmares,
sometimes too dark and sometimes not dark enough. To say we were creatures made
entirely of the good, civilised and logical would be a fallacy and the horror
genre illuminates that for all and sundry to see. Horror is born of our need
for guiding principles to life, our instinctual fears of the 'other' and of
death, our darkest desires and drives as well as our need for a good old scare
to liven the senses. That might seem nonsensical but well, we are in
essence nonsensical creatures. If you don't think so pay earnest
attention to your thoughts, reasoning and excuses on the burning social
issues that have plagued mankind for centuries. Ask yourself why you do it and
deconstruct your position in society, your involvement and why you do anything
at all. The answers you find will leave you feeling a little miserable but if
you accept that we are formed by contradictions and built on a bundle of
nonsense instinct for survival and that almost everything you do or say is tied
to your need to survive then you'll do alright. Horror often faces us with the
uglier and nonsensical truths, leaving us shaken and searching for
more answers as to why. If that isn't writing reflecting the heart and soul of
us all then I don't know what is.
Children's literature encompasses all of the above but in
easy words and with a limited number of concepts woven into a single story, all
so the young mind can grasp it. Any children's literature that doesn't reflect
aspects of humanity isn't worth the paper it is written on. That said, it would
be very hard to write one that doesn't reflect humanity even a little bit.
Literature needs more than just the classification
"books that reflect and explore what it is to be human" to be
labelled literature. To me the term literature is almost synonymous with book.
A human writing is a human exploring humanity. All books contain aspects of the
writer, the audience, society, civilisation and the complex and confusing
animal called human.
In identifying literary fiction as literature the standard
of writing could be a point of order (sorry, I've been watching a lot of Rumpole of the Bailey) but
the standard of all writing has been lifted progressively higher with the
proliferation of publishing over the last few centuries. Now, you're probably
thinking about classical literature and considering that maybe not, maybe it
has fallen, but those writers throughout history who have made it into the
classical listing, the canon being its height, were and are the best of the
best. There were many more writers who've been forgotten simply because they
weren't but they did publish, their works were read and the quality of their
work has varied wildly throughout publishing history.
Other than this I'm at a loss. Literary fiction is to me
just well written, nicely polished and serious-minded fiction where the writer
is earnestly trying to convey a point about humanity and that alone. Play,
scares, shock, horror, delight, wonder, discovery, magic, disbelief and many
other interesting aspects of writing and reading all take a backseat to this
serious exploration of an issue even when they are included. That to me is what
make literary fiction literature and is also why I only read it every now and
then when the point is one I will be interested in. I see no reason to force
myself or others to read literary fiction on a constant basis simply because it
is supposed to be serious and high-brow simply because all genres include what
I need for a good read: an exploration into what it is to be human.
