Why So Sad?
At the book discussion group the other day we talked about Veronica by Mary Gaitskill. I liked the book, but people in the group didn't. They generally agreed that Gaitskill was a skilled writer, but that the book offered no hope. The main character (not Veronica, by the way) leads a dissolute and pointless life, allowing herself to be sexually exploited all along the way. I asked group members if they actually liked the book, but hated the characted Gaitskill had created -- which is very different from hating the book. But no, they just didn't like the book.
It was further weakened by employing the literary tactic, which I think is extremely overworked these days, of beginning in the present and telling the whole story in fractured, sometimes hard to follow flashbacks. Even from page one, you knew there was no hope. But like I said, I liked it, and if you want a gritty, realistic look at the 'glamorous' world of modeling in the 1980's, just as we were starting to wake up to the AIDS epidemic, Veronica will give it to you.
But the interesting question that came out of this discussion concerns why so much good writing these days is unremittingly sad. Why is it all about victims, and abuse, and estrangement, and bad luck? It used to be that even the best authors wrote with a lighter touch. So many contemporary authors seem to have forgotten how a dose of humor could lighten any subject, without reducing our perception of its importance.
Or am I wrong? Can you think of authors who write with wit and humor, but still produce stories of true thematic worth?
posted by Webster Groves Public Library @ 2:00 PM
5 Comments:
I attended the recent book discussion group and was one of those people who just didn't like the book. And while I didn't like it, it doesn't mean I didn't learn something from this book. Nor does it mean I didn't enjoy the discussion. This was the first book discussion group at the Webster Groves Library I have attended and I am going to make it a point to go to more. What more fun can there be for booklovers than to talk about the book we have just read? And then to find people who disagree with us makes it all the more interesting.
This week we decided to take up the challenge of these questions. We talked about contemporary authors who write humor. It was an interesting group, including Christopher Moore, Fannie Flagg, Carl Hiassen and Janet Evanovich. Also interesting is that their books aren't strictly humorous. They add that dose of humor to lighten the subject. We thought they used the humor to stress the importance of the point they were making. We wondered at the events of the time. We certainly see many books about the war in Iraq, the problems with the presidency, all kinds of abuse at all levels. But is our era any different from those of the past? Remembering writers like Mark Twain, Erma Bombeck, Andy Rooney and Patrick McManus, they also found ways to use their humor to teach and inform and influence. Maybe we are just in a swing of sad books with the next wave to come of more humor. Let's hope so.
The next book discussion group meets on November 7 at 6:00pm at the library and we will be discussing On Beauty by Zadie Smith. I have ordered the book, I hope to see you there.
I am particularly fond of John Hassler as a writer of substance who tempers situations with a rye sense of humor. Reviews of his works say he "will make you believe in fiction" again. It's true. Start with his novel Staggerford and go from there. All the books deal with small town life in the midwest but the characters are not one dimensional and real life happens to them.
Thanks for recommending Jon Hassler. I've just been reading about his work, and I think I'll read some this winter. I'll let you know how I like them. TC
I agree with you about a lot of adult lit being fairly sad and heavy. A co-worker claims this is the reason she sticks to YA fiction -- because the reading is lighter and offers hope.
Many a librarian has said that it's a shame we even have the genre of YA literature, since so much good stuff goes unread by the general reading public because it's ghettoized in YA. And what does YA mean? That is has teen characters? That it explores issues important to teens?
Post a Comment
<< Home