Points to ponder

     A few things to think about today, the first a point made in the article What happened to the page-turner novel? by Harry Mount:

"Too much respect for the novel is part of the problem. In an age of literary festivals in every provincial town, and writing courses at every red-brick university, everyone is encouraged to be a writer, and writing is considered a sacred art. Well, if everyone writes, there'll be more bad novels. And if writing is thought sacred, they will become more boring."

    I don't follow that reasoning, but what do you think? I asked recently whether we had too many literary festivals, but if there is a superfluity, that would affect the lit. fest. market, not the novel per se, and yes, creative writing courses do seem to be multiplying, but are more writers being published than ever before, and is the general standard lower than it was and if so, is that a direct result? The economics of the publishing industry must dictate levels here. And surely if there is greater respect for the novel that would mean better quality overall, not worse?

    Harry Mount refers also to Martin Amis and says of his latest work:

"His editor should have got the red pen out, but he was far too respectful of the Great Middle-Aged Man of English Letters."

Yes, the red pen. We talked about that in this post and the many excellent comments. Lack of editing seems to apply as much to debut novelists as to those of standing, but can it really be respect and that alone that's to blame?

(As to page-turning novels, I've just read one, and as far as I can see, they are alive and well).

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   On the subject of creativity and imagination, if you haven't alread heard this programme, do listen. It includes Rose Tremain talking briefly about her novel Music & Silence, Grayson Perry and his "inner shed", and the polymath Raymond Tallis, a man who as both poet and neuroscientist can look at creativity in different ways.

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    Last call for entries for our Buy A Friend A Book draw and I'll pick the winner tomorrow (the 8th.). There's a wealth of good reading listed in the comments on that post, and amongst other things some interesting reactions to Wolf Hall, a good idea for whiling away a tedious drive, and how best to read when you have a baby to feed. 

Comments

[Sandy]

I'm not sure that editors will change their habits with respect to 'the red pen', no matter what reviewers say, unless the buyers stay away.

But it would make a good book title...

[Simon (Savidge Reads)]

Hmmm yes there is a concerted need for red pen action quite often but there are ego's and the like to take into account as well I guess as the authors 'creation'.

I think there seems to be a real snobbery that page turning books cant be well written and until people get over that, because there are some well written page turning grippers out there, then literarture could indeed become much more boring (especially if editors dont then get the red pen out on the waffle).

[Danielle]

Interesting article. I think newspapers like to publish this sort of thing now and again to ruffle people's feathers. I know I have plenty of reading material stacked up ready to read and much of it looks not only well written but gripping as well.

[Tom C]

The more prolific books become, inevitably, the quality will decline. But books have a sort of "peer-review" process applied to them called "sales". If people buy the book you would expect them to be good. Alas, this is not always the case as the popular taste does not always equate to one's own. Solution - book blogs like yours and others which provide intelligent commentary on the publishing world.

[Reading Ape]

I don't know how you can decry a dearth of page-turning novels in an age of Twilight, The Passage, the Stieg Larsson books, Dan Brown, Harry Potter, and so on.

How many plot-driven literary phenomena do you need to disprove this observation exactly?

[Margaret Powling]

There is a response letter to Harry Mount in today's Daily Telegraph(9th July) by Amanda Craig. She says:
"Harry Mount attacks the dullness of the modern novel. I am the author of one that is both literary and, by general acclaim, a page-turner (Hearts and Minds). Nor am I the only one. Andrea Levy's The long Song, Helen Dunmore's The Betrayal, Maggie O'Farrell's The Hand That First Held Mind, Liz Jensen's Rapture and Louise Doughty's Whatever You Love, all recently published, belong to this category. Strangely, we all have one other thing in common. What, or what, could that be?"

I also think Danielle is right. Harry is poking the bear, m'thinks, simply to get a reaction!