“Literary” versus “Popular.” Fiction, that is. I never thought this would make the front page of “The New York Times” as it recently did. The article poses an intriguing claim: that reading “literary fiction” – as opposed to what’s termed “popular”- results in higher emotional intelligence and better social skills. These skills include the invaluable ability to read someone’s mind and body language.
These findings weren’t just tossed up at random. They were well documented by researchers in the reputable New School for Social Research’s Psychology Department.
Both as a writer and as a reader, I’m curious to know how these books achieve such enviable results. According to the article, literary fiction is more subtle, leaving enough unsaid for the reader’s imagination to fill in the blanks. This stimulates his or her imagination. Even “a little Chekhov,” the researchers contend, stimulates a reader’s ”creative thinking,” which then enhances empathy. A hard-cover bargain!
On the other hand, reading “popular fiction” is a more passive experience, because these authors detail their characters’ every thought and emotion. So the reader’s mind doesn’t have to work overtime.
It makes many of us wonder where our own writing fits in. Decades ago, when I was a college student majoring in Creative Writing (as opposed to Uncreative Writing?), a savvy teacher scrawled on one of my stories; TRUST YOUR READER! That three-word wisdom is the best cautionary advice I’ve ever been given. Yet I still have to guard against a tendency to pour a superfluity of details into my stories, as if readers won’t get the point unless I spell it out in capital letters. Would that make my books “popular”? (Would that it did!)
Frankly, we all hope that our books will meet literary standards, but are also popular enough to reap hefty royalties. Of course, many books do achieve this dual result. “Lolita,” for example.
Blurring the borders even further, we have to deal with literary agents wanting manuscripts that are “mainstream” – whatever that means.
I also question whether there might be a “chicken or egg” side to all this. Isn’t it conceivable that people who are more empathic to begin with are drawn to higher-brow books, rather than just the other way around?
Though I try to catch up with the great literature I’ve missed out on, I confess I also curl up with current “potboilers” for sheer enjoyment. So where does that place me as a reader? Mid-stream ( “mainstream”)?
Yet if reading Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Nabokov, Austen, et all enables me to read my partner’s mind, I’m diving solely into classics !
WEBSITE: www.annehosansky.com
BOOKS:
“Widow’s Walk” available through iUniverse.com; “Turning Toward Tomorrow” -available through x:Libris.com; “Ten Women of Valor” – available through CreateSpace.com and Amazon.com. Also Amazon Kindle.