Just Literature discussion

Oh, and Ian McEwan, probably.

Many thanks!

I'd agree, Ian McEwan, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker and Derek Walcott.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Haruki Murakami, Cormac McCarthy.

Oh man....great question!! Who are great contemporary authors? I have to agree with McEwan, but I would add Oates (very rarely disappoints), and Zadie Smith. What does everything think of these? I have always wanted to get acquainted with Murakami. Where do you recommend I start?

Angelo

I know there is a huge debate going on about how the recent changes in the market have affected contemporary literature. In particular, it seems, literary fiction seems to be the victim of a market that favours disposable novels, which have a very short shelf life, but are easily marketable.

I have been around a while, though with a long gap. However, about 10 years ago, publishing a book was hard, yet, once one had published, one could go back to writing. That allowed authors to be just that: writers. On the other hand, I quite like the more direct relationship the present situation creates between readers and writers.

I would like to hear from other group members about what they think about the present literary world: is it being affected by the the huge changes in publishing and in buying books? How?

By far my favorite contemporary author is Thomas Pynchon, who I think is unsurpassed in terms of literary output, whether it be: stylistically, thematically, originality, etc...Someone mentioned McCarthy, who I think is great (just finished No Country for Old Men and loved it). Marquez (RIP) is a great writer too. I really think DeLillo and Roth and amazing too.

I am not a huge fan of contemporary literature, I much prefer the classics as I think most of contemporary literature lacks almost any redeeming qualities; of course, there are exceptions, but I think overall, at least in the mainstream, that it lacks the literary quality of the classics. It just seems like they have become a disposable commodity: with no value, aesthetically, thematically...Nothing that helps "illuminate" the human condition, so to speak...Nothing that hasn't been done better before. It also seems to have been dumbed down, like reading has become a pass time for a few people who don't really care what it is their reading. It doesn't seem like its being taken as seriously as it should be; it seems to be just another business where superior craftsmanship is frowned upon because it wont "sell" as much.

I'm just reading Anita Brookner's Friends and Family and (marvellous) I can see why it's the only one of her books that she really liked. I have only come to her books recently and was amazed that many readers and critics find them 'all the same', well in the sense that every day is the same - sun up, sun down - I suppose they are!

I've read most of the on-line interviews, biographies and critiques of Brookner and I find she has chronicled herself and her times with such astonishing insight and accuracy that, reading, I am unaware of her God-like omniscient narrator style. There are few authors who can get away with this, for they challenge 'Do I or do I not understand the human condition?'

I've learned so much more about my own path through life reading about hers that I'm firmly hooked. I find her men as believable as her women, unusual for any writer to empathise the opposite sex so well, but I was largely brought up by four older sisters :-)

So I stake my claim for Anita Brookner, she understands the starting conditions, stage, set, plot, script and direction of contemporary life - and she illuminates it.

Great post Giuseppina. I definitely agree with everything you've said. Very illuminating.

Stephen - definitely going to put Anita Brookner on my to read list!

Stephen - definitely going to put Anita Brookner on my to read list!"

Be interested in your thoughts as and when, an acquired taste I think. There's very little dialogue and precious little plot but, for me, such smooth psychological accuracy that it's like the author has seen the private places in your own head. Enjoy.

... I think it's up to the great interest, knowledge..."

Yes, agreed, I found the posts more valid and reliable than most of the 'professional' churn you see. Thank you.