Comments on: In defence of the average novel

By: On books, and lists of books

On books, and lists of books — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:12:10 +0000

[...] approval of the canon may seem to be at odds with views I’ve previously expressed, but to me there’s no paradox. I love ephemeral stories and I love stories that last forever. [...]

By: Rowan the Human

Rowan the Human — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:13:54 +0000

Thou art a veritable crackup.

By: David

David — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:27:00 +0000

This is a bit of silly fun that I just thought up this evening. Hope it amuses....

In Defiance Of The Average Novel, an epic in 1 scene

[Literature enters, fantastically dressed with wild flowers]

Literature:
What can I be but life made eternal?
Literature rots not your mind; in sooth,
Aesthetic enrichment this way doth tend:
A delicate flowering of beauty,
A rich flowing of emotive wisdom
Against death's inevitability.

[The Average Novel enters, carrying its Sword of Readability]

The Average Novel:
O Literature, ye blackguard scoundrel!
I swear I will slay ye with my plotting,
My generic characterisation,
My cut-and-dry grammar, my neat endings.
Your base incomprehensibility
Will be thy doom: the people ken ye not.

Literature:
Hark, what is this? A fishmonger's ranting;
Petty patronising of the public.
For verily I can be understood
With patience, practice, pining and effort.

The Average Novel:
Obfuscatory verbs will not save ye:
The time is come for thine execution.
Death is the fair jury's unquestioned will:
With this swift sword of judgement I thee kill.

[The Average Novel strikes Literature]

Literature:
Alack, what tragedy is this that I am slain;
May the silence of death dull fearsome pain.
Dying I may be, yet still I live on:
In hearts of some, never will I be gone.

[Literature dies. Global celebration occurs.]

By: Rowan the Human

Rowan the Human — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:41:22 +0000

YES! That's what I MEANT!

Right, you're hired.

By: Rowan the Human

Rowan the Human — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:21:47 +0000

Nah, I was condemning both! You're probably right, Thelonius. But even if it's good for me, can't it still irk me?

And actually, hang on, you're taking THEIR side over mine? You don't even know them! They might have worse taste than me!

By: Rowan the Human

Rowan the Human — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:20:11 +0000

Ha! I still don't understand much that Kundera writes, although I still love going on the journey with him. Agree about the Booker, although Arundhati Roy won it with The God of Small Things, which goes a long way to redeeming it in my eyes.

On Austen – she's only good fluff anyway, as far as I'm concerned. But divine intervention was surely at work with Darcy and Elizabeth. 'Pemberton of all places' – you crack me up!

By: Rowan the Human

Rowan the Human — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:16:18 +0000

Excellent, thanks Jordan! I love the title and will have to look out for it. I have an addictive personality, especially when it comes to books, and poor upper-body strength. For this reason it's always good to find slim volumes that can be read while wandering (although I mostly go audio these days and have hundreds of books in my pod).

By: Kat

Kat — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:15:03 +0000

Lots of novels that fit in a certain genre type are immediately classified as average, when they are in fact very good. I think especially crime and fantasy, definitely not all created equal. Genres annoy me for this reason, I know people who refuse to read anything that falls into fantasy or crime, even though the books differ enormously and really it is just a description for bookshops to make stuff easier to shelve.

By: Rowan the Human

Rowan the Human — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:13:58 +0000

Hi Heather, thanks so much for your comment – especially since it led me to your brilliant blog! Really enjoying your reviews, perhaps we could collaborate at some point in the future. I agree about over-contrived plot lines being annoying – in fact I was just being a bit silly about the worst aspects of crime fiction and am now paying for it over at Reddit! All good fun though. Val McDermid solidarity!
~ Rowan

By: Thelonious

Thelonious — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:36:20 +0000

I’m confused – are you contrasting Conversation #1 with #2 or are you condemning both? Because it seems to me that #1 is exactly the kind of conversation you’d want to have with a friend – he/she read the book, but has (seemingly) valid reasons for disliking it and offers a reccommendation of a better book.