Guest Blog by Sharon Blackie - The Case for Literary Fiction

Everywhere you go, you hear it. ‘Oh, we can’t sell literary fiction’ (from publishers). ‘Oh, publishers won’t take literary fiction’ (from agents). ‘The panel ended up with a list they described as “page-turning” and “readable”. According to Portillo: “We have brought you fun”’ (from a newspaper article about the 2009 Booker Prize panel of judges).

It’s enough to drive the thinking publisher insane. On the Two Ravens Press blog (http://tworavenspress.wordpress.com/) we often have a bit of a rant at the ‘dumbing down’ of fiction. Not that David and I believe in any way that a work of fiction has to be deeply literary in order to be worthwhile: I enjoy a whopping good story as much as anyone. It’s just that we get more and more desperate as, with every year that passes by, the less possible it is to find anything different and challenging to read on the bookshelves of most retail outlets. I have to admit that I get very bored with the kind of very carefully crafted novel (whose author has obviously devoured and internalised every page of whatever ‘How to Write a Blockbuster’ manual is hot today) that pushes all the right buttons but has nothing interesting to say. The truth is that we get that kind of novel submitted to us all the time, and we almost always turn it down. We don’t want a carefully crafted piece of work that’s carefully crafted to be like most every other novel out there today: we want something different, something that challenges us, something that makes us look at the world in a different way. We want to publish writers who take chances with language, chances with structure. Who aren’t afraid to write from the heart rather than to write to a formula. As our ‘publishing manifesto’ (see the ‘About Us’ page of our website) says: ‘Everything that we publish, we publish with passion. We love each of our books. They say something about the author, they say something about us and they say something about the time and the place they were born into. Each book is a person we like being around. Because each, in its own way, fights back against formulas and homogenization, against the analgesic washing-out of colour that threatens to fade our bright thoughts.’

We’re not necessarily talking about something so experimental that it’s virtually unreadable. We’re talking about books like Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient, like Janette Turner Hospital’s Oyster, like Nikki Gemmell’s Lovesong. From the Two Ravens Press list, we’re talking about books like Angela Morgan Cutler’s Auschwitz, Stona Fitch’s Senseless, Lisa Glass’ Prince Rupert’s Teardrop, Suhayl Saadi’s Joseph’s Box (see http://www.tworavenspress.com/HTML%20Pages/Our%20Books.htm). Books that disturb, books that innovate. Our publishing manifesto goes on: ‘This is the Alamo. We want ideas, we want the language that Albert Camus demanded should “disorientate and challenge us.” We want language as a rallying flag, as a sanctuary, a bayonet, a broom.’
So next time you hear someone say that literary fiction is dead, think of all the small presses out there working tirelessly to preserve it. Next time you want a book that makes you think as well as a book that tells a superb story, look to those same small presses for inspiration. And buy the books direct from their website, giving both them and their authors a fairer deal, often at the same or better discounts than you can get from the likes of Amazon. We need all the support we can get!