What is Literary Fiction, Anyway?

What is literary fiction? I’ve been making an attempt to determine it out, and I’m stumped. (Let me simply say this up entrance: this essay is about 750 phrases, and I completely don’t give a definitive definition anyplace in these phrases.) Like any style or age class, “literary fiction” is a designation that is primarily a advertising and marketing instrument, an thought of the place to discover a ebook in a bookstore…however style is additionally supposed to offer readers an thought of what to anticipate, at the very least in very broad phrases, and I don’t suppose literary fiction does that.

A style like thriller or romance tells us there can be a central [mystery/romance] plot with anticipated tropes, acquainted construction, and a passable ending the place the primary character(s) [solve the crime/live happily ever after]. There are all the time books that break the mildew on the subject of tropes and construction, however they conform to the central plot and ending guidelines nearly with out exception. Likewise, a science fiction ebook will indirectly contain fictional science, a fantasy ebook will discover the fantastical, and a suspense ebook will maintain the reader in suspense. Historical fiction takes place up to now, crime novels concern themselves with, properly, crime (however not essentially the fixing of it), and so forth.

But what about literary fiction? What can I anticipate from the style? The finest definition I can discover is that it’ll have “literary merit.” Well, so do the entire different genres I simply talked about. Next!

After the undefinable “literary merit,” I most frequently hear that literary fiction has “beautiful writing,” that it is character-focused, and that it is not style. Hmmm. I can consider books in each style with lovely writing, so that may’t presumably be a critical definition. As for character-focused, I suppose it is perhaps true in broad strokes that style books are plot-forward and literary books are character-forward, however there is merely no approach that’s true throughout the board, and even near it. Which leaves the concept literary fiction is not style fiction.

Well, what does “genre” imply right here? Simply, it encompasses the genres like science fiction and fantasy, crime and thriller, romance and ladies’s fiction (one other “genre” that appears to be undefinable and doubtless nonsense). So, in keeping with this rule, literary fiction is all the time sensible and by no means targeted on a romance or thriller plot. Again, I say: Hmmm.

I not too long ago borrowed The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid from the library. In it, white folks begin turning brown in what I assume is a tool for the creator to discover race and energy constructions — I haven’t learn very far but. I’ve seen this ebook described as literary fiction just about throughout the board regardless of the premise being, properly, speculative on the very least and doubtless science fiction, relying on the reason for the occasions within the ebook. Likewise, I hear Lakewood by Megan Giddings described as literary fiction though the primary character goes by way of medical experiments which might be distinctly science fiction. So what makes these books qualify as literary as a substitute of SFF? I don’t know!

At a loss and feeling considerably determined, I googled “literary fiction 2023” and one of many high outcomes was I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai. Now, pay attention, I haven’t learn this ebook, however I wasn’t born yesterday. That is a thriller novel. What the heck is occurring?

While I used to be pondering this unusual phenomena, this style that appears to solely exist as a result of folks say it does and never as a result of it means something, I listened to some tales from The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw, one other ebook that appears to be referred to as literary fiction pretty universally. The prose jogged my memory of each different nice Southern fiction I’ve learn, if maybe a bit extra layered as a result of, frankly, I’ve largely learn white Southern authors they usually merely wouldn’t have as a lot occurring. That mentioned, I heard Harry Crews in her writing, so I requested the web what style he wrote. Well, people, the web mentioned “novels.” Which is not a style in any respect. (I suppose “Southern” isn’t both, except it is.)

Maybe it could make extra sense to match literary fiction to its up to date cousin, industrial fiction. Let me google that actual fast. Now dangle on only a dang minute. Commercial means, primarily, “for sale.” All books are on the market, Jan. (I’m renaming Google “Jan” for the needs of that sentence.)

I surrender.