Spy Novels & Other Trash at the Airport
The slings and arrows thrown at genre fiction are sharp, many, and nothing new. In the collective consciousness of all things bookish, there is a hierarchy. Literature wears the gold crown and all other forms of fiction are pedestrian and plebeian.
You might have heard something about a certain Oprah’s Book Club pick that has made headlines. There are numerous articles and essays debating the book’s merits and the publishing machine behind it. One point being made is that if the book had been marketed as a thriller instead of “the Grapes of Wrath for our times” then there would have been nothing to debate. That is to say, the book would’ve had a small life and would’ve died without notice. If the publishing machine had labeled it as genre instead of literary fiction then the expectation of quality would not have been so high.
On NPR’s Latino USA episode about the book’s controversy, Sandra Cisneros says:
“Ok, she has transformed it into a thriller novel and you know people are reading books like, you know, like spy novels and other trash that you see at the airport.”
She goes on to express happiness and hope that a reader that wouldn’t normally pick up a book written by her, implying a work of literature, would pick up this genre book. And then in the next breath, she says “[The author] is going to reach a different kind of audience. We are all together, side by side, working to raise consciousness about this issue.”
You can’t have your cake and eat it too.
The Crime/Mystery genre (which includes Thrillers) is one of the most popular categories of books sold in the USA with annual sales of $728.2 million, a number only eclipsed by another genre, Romance, with $1.44 billion in sales. “Mystery, thriller and crime genre is the leading book genre in the U.S., as nearly half of American consumers prefer this genre.”
You can’t have your cake and eat it too.
Genre fiction can not be vilified as trash while at the same time using some of its best-selling authors (Stephen King, John Grisham, Don Wilson) to sell, via blurbs, literary fiction. Genre fiction can not be asked to do the work of changing minds and hearts about important issues without their authors being given equal merit. The slings and arrows must stop. Smash the hierarchy. Fiction is a spectrum. There are well-written, well-researched mystery novels that have elements of poetry and flourish. There are romance novels that tackle racism and prejudice with Wilde-ian wit. Fantasy novels that cut to one’s core with their truth and beauty. When critiquing a novel do not judge it by its genre, but by its mastery of storytelling.
I have purposefully not used the title of Oprah’s Book Club choice for January 2020. The issues with the book are a Venn diagram of poor storytelling and publishing inequality. There are a multitude of excellent essays about it. Here are a few that I recommend: David Bowles, Myriam Gurba, Esmeralda Bermudez
