A Literary Ramble on Literature

In preparation for the next semester (or trimester as DU calls them), I read two introductions to books introducing the various voices within literary theory, both of which asked that essential question, what is literature? Of course, the answer is vague, partly because it's a debatable point and partly because they were introductions and they can't give it all away. But it made me think about what literature is or has been to me, which is something I probably should think about if I'm studying Literature.

The first thought I have is remembering the many times I rearranged my books in my teens. It was something I did at least once a year I think. I would take every book off the shelf and put them into piles according to how I wanted to organise them, then work out the best way to arrange them all on the shelves. I could make a joke here about how much of a nerd I was/am, but, as I think about it, I'm not going to wear that label over this - I love books, I always have and always will, that doesn't mean I have to wear some societal label.

I digress, the point is, and there is one, I typically sorted them back into 'genre'. Fantasy always had the largest piles, with science fiction next and horror a small pile that grew steadily, especially if you include the Gothic Romances. There were plenty of problems and 'ums' and 'errs' deciding which pile to put some books on. Star Wars novels got their own pile and took up a shelf of their own, so that avoided that one, but other books raised questions - which could be the origins of my thesis, but that's a topic for another blog. The point, is where Literature stood, and in terms of sorting - and cataloging - my books it meant, books that don't fit any genre I'm aware of. Mostly it contained books I'd read for English at school like Dickens' Oliver Twist.

Later, when I was doing some post-grad study in writing, I was talking to someone who'd finished her Masters at the same uni, and I mentioned I had contemplated doing the Novel Writing Workshop. She asked what my novel would be about and as soon as I described some vague notion I had she replied 'There's a Genre Writing Workshop too'. I was floored, poor naive fool that I was, it had not occurred to me that a fantasy novel was not really a novel, but a piece of genre fiction. To her defence, she meant no offence and didn't intend any disdain towards genre, and I wasn't put off by her attitude, merely that the distinction between 'literature' and 'genre fiction' was so well established as to be taken as part of the structure of writing and teaching writing.

These days I'm aware of the existence of such distinctions to some people, and of the mirrored snobbery within genre fiction itself, however it is eroding I'm happy to say. Which leaves the question - what is literature to me now? And the answer is ... I'm not entirely sure. In the end, I think it's any creative work which uses language and is approached by a reader as such - that is a creative work using words. So, a play is literature when approached as a script for reading and digesting, and a performance text when approached for mounting a production. A performed play is literature when approached by a reader/audience member from the point of view of the words being uttered and the context they are in (so scene/characterisation etc is part of it not just the words). So literature, I realise as I write this, is a relationship between the reader/watcher and the text.

That was a journey for me, I didn't expect that outcome. I hope, if you've stuck with it this long, that your relationship with this text has been enjoyable.

Keep dreaming!

A Song of Ice and Fire - Finally I'm Up to Date

Last night I stayed up later than was wise because I was so close to my destination and I had to reach it. And reach it I did, I finished A Dance of Dragons and am finally up to date with George R.R Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. Now I join the throngs waiting for the next book.

It's called an epic fantasy and it really is in every sense, and reading it is certainly a journey. There are many fantastic vistas, especially when you get into the later books (which I guess will end up being the middle books by the time this thing is done), and I've loved visiting them and learning of the cultures and histories which are all vividly painted.

The characters are equally strong and Martin alters the writing to fit each perspective well, which can make the text read in troubling ways at times, but these are troubling characters and disturbing times.

The saga is certainly dark, with sometimes shocking violence and of course plenty of sex which is often quite twisted itself. However, I don't feel Martin has truly earned the reputation he has for killing off everyone's favourite characters. There are many, many deaths but very few characters that I actually care about have died so far. Some have appeared to die in one book only to turn up in the next - something I'm not ruling out come book six.

Finally, I'll just say, I'm happy in my decision to stick to reading the books and not watching the series. I did watch the first season and it was good television, but it felt like a Reader's Digest version of the story. There's no way to give the same depth to the characters and cultures in the show as in the books and for me that's what makes A Song of Ice and Fire so good. I also want to stick to one version of the story. There were two many unnecessary and quite odd changes in the first season, from what I've heard they only increase as it goes on.

Anyway, that's my very brief opinion on what is a vast story of considerable complexity. The journey is not always pleasant but it is worth taking if you can find the time.

Keep dreaming!

The Creature from Beyond Infinity by Henry Kuttner

In my last blog I mentioned that I read Kuttner’s first novel, so now I thought I’d quickly write about it. First of all I’d like to say the title isn’t really appropriate – neither is the original title One Million Years to Conquer – and doesn’t give a good idea of what your about to read. I expected some sort of monster story but it’s far from that. The original title is a bit closer to the truth but still off the mark. That said, I have no suggestions for a replacement.

It’s a complex story in some ways and overly simplistic in others. The first half or more is split into two narratives, one telling of an alien seeking super geniuses in humanity by cryogenically sleeping through millennia, the other of a super genius who discovers an extraterrestrial plague he struggles to find a cure too.

Without going into details of the plot, the stories collide when the alien’s timeline reaches our super genius/hero’s, at which point all bets are off and chaos ensues for few pages before falling into what we can see as an oncoming inevitable finale.

Allowing for the concept of the story – which not everyone would do – the real problem with the novel is, it isn’t a novel. It’s far too short and tries to deliver too much. There are too many characters whose emotional developments are naturally forced to fit the length. Of course, at the time Kuttner could hardly have produced an epic. Thankfully his pacing is quick so while you have to make some allowances for depth the story trots along and keeps you entertained.

What I also find interesting is the combination of science fiction and fantasy elements. Earlier I read Kuttner’s The Dark World (possibly co-written with CL Moore but we’ll never know for sure), which was on the face of it a fantasy story, but which used pseudo-scientific explanations to justify its fantastical characters and effects. We saw magic and monsters but the hero/anti-hero explained them as natural forces and mutations.

The Creature from Beyond Infinity, on the other hand, is ostensibly science fiction. Alien technology, evolution and bands of gas in space are the nature of its reality. Yet, it features a barbarian, a queen of Atlantis, an ancient Chinese philosopher and a Roman soldier/general.

So it seems Kuttner was perfectly happy travelling between the genres and throwing in elements of both into his work. And that’s something intriguing enough for me to want to explore further.

Keep dreaming.