In The News--A Response to Gender Wars

Last week EG's "In the News" feature discussed the idea of gender wars in publishing. An EG member James D. King, had a very thoughtful response that we share for today's "In the News" feature. Read the original EG post here and the original New Yorker article that spawned the discussion here.

And here is James King's response to to it all...

The EG blog of January 13, 2014, entitled “Gender Wars”, was about women writers not getting a fair shake in the writing world. EG saw the argument as being not so much about gender, but more about concept. Concept in the view of whether a piece was judged by The New York Times Book Review to be great literature or ignored as run of the mill genre writing. I agree with the author’s analysis of the situation that could be characterized as a “tempest in a teapot.” These are my thoughts:

My view of great writing can be summed up in the old saw about art; “I don’t know what great art is, but I know what I like.” In other words, a New York Times reviewer may tout an author as a fabulous literary writer, but I won’t buy the book if I don’t like the writing. Like vast majority of America, I don’t read The New York Times Book Review. I know that defines me as a literary troglodyte only capable of appreciating Spiderman comic books.

When you think about it, 99% of all books that have ever been printed no longer exist. Both pulp fiction as well as great literature went to the recycle bin side by side.Why? Because they served their momentary purpose of entertainment. Sure, some books educate, illuminate or fascinate the reader, but most exist to amuse us, to take us away from reality, to remove us from our daily lives. Some may quibble about the reasons people read books and I admit they are varied, but I would posit that all of those reasons can be summed up by the word, entertainment in its broadest sense.

Ultimately, what the book industry does is sell books. Without the profit motive we would be in the same situation as the 14^th century world where only the rich could afford expensive hand written books. Taken a step further, the books that I buy provide the profit margin that allows for the production of the often less profitable “great literature”. 

Consider this. The bestselling author in modern history is Dame Agatha Christie. Her writings have sold well over two billion books, not to mention inspiring movies, television and radio shows and the longest running play in London. Was she considered a great literary writer? No, but her books sold well because they did what the reader wanted, they entertained. When she wrote she had the reader in mind, not a New York Times critic. I’m thinking that a top literary critic would rather take poison than read one of her books. I’m also thinking that the profit from her books allowed more than a few publishers to print great literary works that were lucky to break even and that book critics approved of.

 Do I think that great writing should be abandoned? Of course not, it has its place as part of the writing spectrum. I envision this spectrum to be a bell curve, like the ones that were used to grade tests in high school. At one end is great literature, with a capitol “L”. At the other end are cheap, formulaic, genre paperbacks. In the middle is everything else, that is, what the majority of the public actually buys and reads.

I have purposefully ignored defining what should be considered great literature. I’ll let others more knowledgeable and caring argue that. I do know that really good writing can be entertaining and sell well. I also know that poor writing can be entertaining and sell well. I believe that writers are compelled to write and can only do the best that they can. The public will let us know where we fall in the literary spectrum. Erudite literary critics will continue to babble to those who will listen.

Jim is a native of Washington, DC and still lives close by in the Maryland suburbs. He has held a number of occupations some of which are, taxi cab driver, electronics technician, police detective, antique dealer, school security guard, real estate agent and author.

Jim has penned many articles for periodicals, such as “The Art Theft Archive”, “American School and University”, and the “Maryland Writer’s Association Newsletter.” His first traditionally published book, with co-author, Jack Burch, is “Ghost Burglar”. It is about a case that as a detective Jim investigated. “Ghost Burglar” won the Independent Publisher’s Associations 2013 “IPPY” National Bronze Medal in the True Crime genre.  Jim belongs to two author critique groups, is a board member of the Maryland Writer’s Association/ Montgomery County Chapter and also blogs about his book at www.ghostburglar.com. He also works occasionally at an independent book store.  

Ghost Burglar details the criminal life of Bernard Welch who ravaged the Washington metropolitan area and became America’s most “successful” burglar. It is estimated that in a few years this man stole over fifty million dollars in property. In the process he became a serial rapist and murderer. Welch lived openly in a Virginia mansion and had a summer home in Duluth, Minnesota, both with indoor pools. During his life Welch escaped from two escape proof prisons. Jim was a lead investigator in these cases and over a five year period met many obstacles, both personal and professional until Welch was arrested. One of the twists to this case is that it was responsible for stopping the funding in America of international terrorist groups.

 

Jim grew up reading science fiction and as a writer it has become his true passion. Since working security at middle and high schools his focus has been on the young and early adult markets. His stories do not contain the high tech aspects that are currently popular in sci-fi movies. Rather, he imagines the future to be a background to display the human ability to overcome problems and change.