Comments on: “Pretentious Literary Fiction” To Get New Section in Bookstores http://www.edrants.com/pretentious-literary-fiction-to-get-new-section-in-bookstores/ a blog in ever-shifting standing Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:51:44 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: dwinspear http://www.edrants.com/pretentious-literary-fiction-to-get-new-section-in-bookstores/comment-page-1/#comment-247789 dwinspear Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:51:19 +0000 http://www.edrants.com/?p=7472#comment-247789 is this one of those perennial death of the novel discussions? I thought that it was a pretty good idea to have a section for pretentious literary fiction. I'm lucky in that I have this friend Winnie who updates me on the latest outpourings of pretentios prose, whether Ecco clones or the political versions, like Ignatieff and his "torture lite" stuff ground out in his Garden Street manse off Harvard Square. Fiction faces a lot competition these days. If you want fiction now, all you have to do is turn on the nightly news. Most fiction writers now work for big p.r. firms like Hill and Knowlton and their job is to sell wars and occupations. That leaves a contemporary writer in a bit of a bind. I feel that the main problem is that "reality" has long since surpassed fiction. Everything some simple scribe can cook up in his imagination is already being acted out somewhere. So, I like to call my writing, "faction". It's a bit like jazz. After the sixties and the Brit rock invasion and the rise of the rock juggernaut, jazz musicians were forced to move to Europe or become domesticated and embalmed in academia. The same could be said for fiction writers being popped out of creative writing courses like so many IPods from Mexican maquiladoras. My humble advice-fiction writers, get real! is this one of those perennial death of the novel discussions? I thought that it was a pretty good idea to have a section for pretentious literary fiction. I’m lucky in that I have this friend Winnie who updates me on the latest outpourings of pretentios prose, whether Ecco clones or the political versions, like Ignatieff and his “torture lite” stuff ground out in his Garden Street manse off Harvard Square.
Fiction faces a lot competition these days. If you want fiction now, all you have to do is turn on the nightly news. Most fiction writers now work for big p.r. firms like Hill and Knowlton and their job is to sell wars and occupations.
That leaves a contemporary writer in a bit of a bind. I feel that the main problem is that “reality” has long since surpassed fiction. Everything some simple scribe can cook up in his imagination is already being acted out somewhere. So, I like to call my writing, “faction”.
It’s a bit like jazz. After the sixties and the Brit rock invasion and the rise of the rock juggernaut, jazz musicians were forced to move to Europe or become domesticated and embalmed in academia. The same could be said for fiction writers being popped out of creative writing courses like so many IPods from Mexican maquiladoras. My humble advice-fiction writers, get real!

]]> By: swetergrl http://www.edrants.com/pretentious-literary-fiction-to-get-new-section-in-bookstores/comment-page-1/#comment-242221 swetergrl Fri, 18 Apr 2008 03:15:45 +0000 http://www.edrants.com/?p=7472#comment-242221 Complaining that fiction is dead is unoriginal, asinine, banal, and inane. Fiction is like energy. It doesn't die -- it changes forms. It always has. When people complain that it's dead, they are really expressing that they can't find something to be interested in. So quit whining and start exploring. Complaining that fiction is dead is unoriginal, asinine, banal, and inane. Fiction is like energy. It doesn’t die — it changes forms. It always has. When people complain that it’s dead, they are really expressing that they can’t find something to be interested in. So quit whining and start exploring.

]]> By: greg parsons http://www.edrants.com/pretentious-literary-fiction-to-get-new-section-in-bookstores/comment-page-1/#comment-241998 greg parsons Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:10:46 +0000 http://www.edrants.com/?p=7472#comment-241998 This must be an April Fool's. Everbody knows that fiction is dead. At least that's what I hear from the fiction writers... http://literaryrejectionsondisplay.blogspot.com/2008/02/has-short-fiction-gone-way-of-old.html (If this is true, and I think there's a point here, then I think it's pretty bad) This must be an April Fool’s. Everbody knows that fiction is dead. At least that’s what I hear from the fiction writers…

http://literaryrejectionsondisplay.blogspot.com/2008/02/has-short-fiction-gone-way-of-old.html

(If this is true, and I think there’s a point here, then I think it’s pretty bad)

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