Literary fiction vs. Commercial (Genre) fiction

Discussion in 'Genre Discussions' started by klk.yangon, Oct 5, 2011.

  1. Batgoat

    Batgoat New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2011
    Messages:
    110
    Likes Received:
    2
    Location:
    New Zealand
    In the 60s, there was a culture of pushing the established envelope as far as it would go... and also of using lots of mind altering substances. Having read neither of these mentioned authors, I cannot say which of these they were doing... LOL
     
  2. minstrel

    minstrel Leader of the Insquirrelgency Supporter Contributor

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2010
    Messages:
    10,742
    Likes Received:
    9,991
    Location:
    Near Sedro Woolley, Washington
    I don't know about Poe, but Hemingway was very successful financially. Most of his novels were best-sellers and he was able to afford a pretty darn luxurious lifestyle.

    Faulkner did not use flowery language? Hmm. Try reading the first couple of pages of Absalom, Absalom sometime. Or the descriptions in "Spotted Horses": a "gray woman in the gray sunbonnet and dress, her clasped and motionless hands on her lap resembling a gnarl of pallid and drowned roots from a drained swamp"; or Tull, with the "sedate and innocent blue of his eyes above the month-old corn-silk beard which concealed most of his abraded face and which gave him an air of incredible and paradoxical dissoluteness, not as though at last and without warning he had appeared in the sight of his fellowmen in his true character, but as if an old Italian portrait of a child saint had been defaced by a vicious and idle boy", etc.

    Faulkner was a great overwriter and used tons of flowery language. Open almost any of his works at almost any page and you'll find examples.
     
  3. Dithnir

    Dithnir New Member

    Joined:
    May 17, 2011
    Messages:
    78
    Likes Received:
    5
    That's not flowery, that's amazing :) But I take 'flowery' to be pejorative anyway.
     
  4. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

    Joined:
    Nov 21, 2006
    Messages:
    19,150
    Likes Received:
    1,034
    Location:
    Coquille, Oregon
    no, it's not 'flowery' at all, imo... just truly great wordsmithery!

    klk... from that sample about the tree i would guess english is not your first language... or that you need to brush up on basic grammar, since there are flaws that can't be explained away by trying to sound 'literary'...
     
  5. digitig

    digitig Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2010
    Messages:
    2,490
    Likes Received:
    81
    Location:
    Orpington, Bromley, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
    I think it can all be explained by an attempt to sound literary. It reads rather like some stuff by John Barth that I've read (ahd his first language was English!). The trouble is, that sort of experimentation flared up in the 1960s and fizzled out again as a dead end. That extract doesn't look as if it's going to rekindle it. The trouble is that if you are trying to be original you need to have a pretty good idea of what has already been tried. And all those who have succeeded in making a name for themselves in experimental fiction -- Joyce, Barth and so on -- have first demonstrated their skill with conventional prose.
     

Share This Page

  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
    Dismiss Notice