Blog #98; A Vigorous Argument for Interesting, Compelling Fiction

 A story, more than anything, must be alive.   It must have a pulse and driving emotion that hooks the reader into the narrative.  As more time goes by and I find myself further distanced from the academic, "literary" world, it becomes more clear to me what makes great fiction in my own mind.  Unlike what I have heard in some academic circles, it is not a prerequisite that to be admired a work must put the reader to sleep.   It is actually very freeing to read someone like Harlan Coben or Stephen King and enjoy it for the pure storytelling aspect, the propulsive drive from page to page, the addictive compulsion to keep turning pages.

 

Reading such a book is indeed satisfying an addiction and in a way that I would say is much healthier than most addictions.  With my wife, I currently belong to The Book of the Month Club, and good reads abound there.  The most recent novel I have read came from there, SHE STARTED IT, a deliciously twisted plot line of a British book, where a wronged high school outsider and talented artist gets her revenge on four bullies ten years later at her hen party. 

 

I am also exploring William Styron's nonfiction, and quite frankly, I have been given a revised point of view on that work too.  His "Darkness Visible" will always be my favorite work of his, followed closely by SOPHIE'S CHOICE, but most of the collection of his nonfiction that I read dealt mostly with current affairs of his day and the literary social life of Manhattan. I find it best to stay warily awake regarding the  "woke" movement of contemporary fiction.  I mostly stick to historical fiction.

 

Enough said on that topic.  I have looked at my late friend and mentor Phil Deaver's work, particularly how his work is faring posthumously.  I told Phil while he was still alive that I would do all I could to preserve his literary legacy.  I don’t know what his family and other loved ones feel about preserving his work.  I imagine the warm-hearted, generous-spirited man that his memory bequeaths to us is what ultimately lives on, both in his published work and his private moments with family and friends.