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Literary Fiction: Why it Deserves to Die
When I was a teen, short stories were everywhere. There were stories in every genre and for every age level. Writers paid their bills by writing them. Then came the Writer's Workshop phenomenon, and the MFA. Short stories became confessions for the woebegone, pulpits for the put-upon, and mandatory publications for the nearly-tenured. This happened to poetry before it happened to short fiction. In the fifties and sixties, there were famous poets. They were featured in "Life Magazine" and ordinary people bought their books. They had agents. Now, poets who get their works published in journals receive two copies, and all the other people who receive two copies read only their own poems. The five other people who have subscriptions leave them on the coffee table. Guess what's next? Did you know that according to PW, of the thousands of books published each year, the vast majority sell fewer than 99 copies? Have you checked out how few copies sold constitute a best-seller? Yes, people will read. In fact, they wait in line for the right books. However, most will not waste their time on the self-indulgent, adolescent, elitist, or preachy. Short stories, in their current incarnation, deserve to die. So do novels. As literary craftsmen, our job is not to be "Ahtists" or to save the world. Instead, we should strive to tell a wonderful story filled with interesting people.
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Contributor's Note
I think we should discuss this. Feel free to add comments.
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Added by Linda Armstrong on April 19, 9:23 PM.
COURTESY OF
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Aren't you being a bit elitist yourself? Who are you to tell me what is worth my time to read?
I like to read all sorts of books from short stories to trashy novels as well as non-fiction and much more. I never know which book is going to amuse or inspire me until I actually sit down with it so I think it is a bit rude of you to condemn a range of books on behalf of me and others.
What? Are you so narrow minded? DO YOU even read, or do you need to have a 'big' book to feel big? Selling short stories short, ha. Story tellers for centuries have been telling 'short stories' as a way of passing on cultural ideals and morals and histories. Today is no different.
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
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Well, yes, actually the current situation IS different, which was my point. Perhaps you read short stories and poetry. Good for you! I mean that. Both of you get five gold stars and an A++ in cultural awareness. However, most people who are not currently in college literature classes (or who are not editors, agents, or aspiring authors) do not. I agree with you absolutely about "Big Books," if you mean "IMPORTANT" literature. That is what publishers are putting out there for people to read, and the great majority of those "fine books" are being ignored, for good reason. These works are so busy being "important" that they are boring, boring, boring. You know how they tell you in creative writing class that everybody is interested in your personal experiences and your personal opinions, well, what if they are wrong? If you aren't a political candidate or a drugged-out Hollywood bimbo, there is a really good chance that nobody cares how people treated your grandfather when he lived in the trailer park. (I'm kidding, but I think you probably know what I mean.) Everybody has problems. I didn't make up the statistic from Publisher's Weekly. (PW) Most books sell fewer than 99 copies. As far as short stories go, take a trip to the local newsstand and see how many magazines still publish them. "Atlantic Monthly", one of the few hold-outs, stopped last year. Why do you think that is? Because everybody loves to read them? Uh, I don't think so. Literary journals and other small presses still publish short stories, but take a look at their circulation--and try to buy one, or even find one in most libraries outside of colleges. (Even at your college--be sure to take your allergy meds before you open a copy--cough!--lots of dust.) Worse, try to make a living selling short stories. I'm not kidding. People used to be able to pay their bills, even in Manhattan, with what they made from such sales. Do you see what I mean about this market being different now? (BTW--I LOVE the short story form, if not its current incarnation, and so would everybody else, if the offerings were not "too high quality" for "little people" that constitute "the masses".) The exact PW statistics are in this article http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6353274.html
The author makes a good point that, in the future, writing with a very small following will have more of a chance to reach its narrow target market through ebooks and other flavors of self-publication, however, that does not change my point. I do not believe that short stories, novels and poetry deserve to be relegated to the hobby or vanity category for writers. You are right. Good storytelling is very important, and people miss it. In my opinion, some of the substance abuse problems we have in our culture are due to the failure of the arts to do their real job. Stories should be for everyone. People should not have to be indoctrinated, um, sorry "educated" to enjoy them.
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