Fashions and Fictions

[chickenfeet]

One of the interesting things about living with lemur_catta is that although we share many tastes in literature we have very different reading experiences. Part of this, of course, is that I grew up in England, lemur_catta in California and part is that I am nine years older. It causes me to reflect on the differences in reading patterns between the US and the rest of the English speaking world but even more on the vexed question of how and why writers go in and out of fashion. (Before I go on I should make it clear that I am talking about lit fic not pulp although I know there isn't a clear line between the two.)

It is easy to find examples of writers notable in their day who have vanished almost without trace; Bulwer-Lytton, CP Snow, John Galsworthy, Arnold Bennett; more recently Cyril Connolly, Graham Greene, and who knows, maybe John Fowles is becoming part of this group. It is equally easy to find authors who are not obviously better writers but continue to be read. It is not obvious to me that Dickens or DH Lawrence or Virginia Woolf are better novelists than any of the above (except maybe Bulwer-Lytton) but maybe thats just me.

Then there are the people who are known for just one book even though they wrote many. William Golding is the classic example. Almost everyone was (probably still is) forced to read Lord of the Flies at school but how many people could name even one other book of Golding's? (Several of them are better than Lord of the Flies in my opinion.) And that despite the fact he won the Nobel.

And what about authors who continue to attract a certain kind of public without ever becoming widely popular? I think I would put Anthony Powell in that class. There are probably others, Patrick White perhaps?

lemur_catta believes it is mostly to do with academics designating certain works or writers as canonical. I am pretty sure she is right as far as the US is concerned. (My impression is that lit fic is little read in the US outside academia). I am less convinced of this explanation where the UK and Australia are concerned. It seems to me that 'books' loom too large in the intellectual world of the so called 'chattering classes' for that to be possible. However, I don't have a better theory.

Comments

[ella.livejournal.com]

I've never read Lord of the Flies, but I did read The Spire, which I remember thinking was fantastic. In fact I think I might have to get my hands on a copy of it and read it again.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Its a long time since I read The Spire but I remember liking it very much. I just finished The Inheritors which I thought was an interesting premise but the plotting seemed to come unglued in the middle.