The Most Influential Genre?
What is the most influential genre in fiction these days? While the sun never sets on Romance and literary fiction got a jolt of Pynchon last fall, the ying and the yang of fiction indicates a shift is underway. Big name romance writers are making the move toward thrillers while literary writers pedal their way toward genre. I won’t even mention the burst of psuedonyms used by established authors to revitalize their careers. At this point in the cycle the genre exerting the most influence is crime fiction.
That segue brings me to the topic of Natsuo Kirino. Her novel GROTESQUE is being released by Knopf in March. Kirino is well-established in Japan as a crime fiction writer although she began her career writing romance, ala Tess Gerritsen and Catherine Coulter. I can’t wait to read the book and see where Ms. Kirino takes us.
You may argue that the story elements in many of the current thrillers owe homage to Romance, that the shift toward crime fiction is a market reaction to the demise of Chick Lit and the marginalization of literary fiction. Cover art, marketing focus, target demographics all contribute to the fuzzy line between the major genres. This feels like a transitional time as the last of the DaVinci thrillers trickle into stores, repackaged as Lord Archer’s Latest and Greatest.
What do you think? Which is the most influential genre?
January 11th, 2007 at 11:53 am
I loved Kirino’s OUT, and can’t wait to read GROTESQUE.
Crime novelists take on a lot of social issues these days, i.e. Ian Rankin, Laura Lippman, George Pelecanos, and I think that does give crime novels a leg up in being influential with readers. At the same time, these books are not preaching but offer fascinating characters and wonderful plots that emphasize any type of “message” the author might want to offer. It used to be that mainstream fiction did this, but personally, I think Oprah killed that with her recommendations of so many books with victimized women that hit the reader over the head with their social issues. They left me shaking my head and wanting more out of a story.
January 11th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Hi Karen, thanks for stopping by. In addition to social issues I think crime authors are drawing from all sources of literary inspiration and not just post-modernist ironic bullshit.
January 11th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
You’re absolutely right. And there’s a mystery for everybody these days. If we want something more literary or chick lit-ie or dark or funny or action-packed, everything goes and there are no boundaries. I just recently finished Daniell Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone, which was labeled a crime novel, and while there was suspense and crime, it was so beautifully written and evocative of the best of Southern lit. It really transcended all genre requirements.
January 11th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
I haven’t read Woodrell. You might enjoy Mo Hayder’s The Devil of Nanking or James Church’s A Corpse in the Koryo; both books are unusual and powerful.
January 11th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
And what’s going to happen when people get tired of reading about lawyers? I think there must be more lawyers writing crime novels these days than practicing law.
Maybe they’ll move to Romance?
January 11th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
Some would argue ( probably lawyers) that they already have. Take that to the Appellate Division with a feisty ADA and her boy toy turned investigator or heavily muscled, he cited three precedents before dead lifting his late model Mercedes.
January 14th, 2007 at 10:09 am
I don’t know what you would call it — quirky? — but I like books that go all over the place and don’t have predictable patterns: Chuck Palahniuk, Charles Bukowski, John Kennedy Toole, John Irving, Kurt Vonnegut, blah, blah.
I also like Ayn Rand though. A lot of people have given me shit for that.
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