Battle of the Bookstores

For most of Battle of the Bookstores, Josie believes that Ryan thinks she’s pretentious, lifeless, and boring for enjoying literary fiction and nonfiction whilst Ryan believes that Josie thinks he and his clientele are not serious readers because they “just read romance.” Through these characters and their bookstores, Ali Brady explores a longstanding if largely artificial conflict in the literary world.

Critics have long struggled to draw a clear boundary between “literary fiction” and what is commonly (and dismissively) called “commercial” or “genre” fiction. One of the oldest ways to define this boundary is to claim that literary fiction focuses on character, while genre fiction is driven by plot. However, given the clear focus on character development in contemporary romance novels like Battle of the Bookstores—to look at just one genre—this distinction is unlikely to stand up to scrutiny. In a 2006 interview with Time magazine, the novelist John Updike—a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner widely seen as thoroughly literary—lamented the artificiality of this divide:

And the category of “literary fiction” has sprung up recently to torment people like me who just set out to write books, and if anybody wanted to read them, terrific, the more the merrier. But now, no, I’m a genre writer of a sort. I write ‘literary fiction,’ which is like spy fiction […] (Grossman, Lev. “Old Master in a Brave New World.” Time, 28 May 2006.)

What Updike notices here is that by setting “literary fiction” apart from other kinds of fiction, critics and booksellers have inadvertently forced it to become exactly what it claims not to be: a genre.

The criteria used to judge the aesthetic, artistic, or moral value of art are inherently subjective, and judgments about which works are worthy of critical attention often reflect the prejudices of a given era more than the work’s intrinsic value. Such prejudices can lead to the exclusion and/or alienation of certain authors, genres, or readers who don’t conform to the preferences of the “elite.” This creates a sense of cultural or intellectual gatekeeping that can negatively impact the prevalence of reading and enjoyment.

By dismissing or belittling genres they deem “unserious,” such as romance, fantasy, or young adult, critics and readers risk missing out on experiences they might find moving or transformative. Given that there are far more readers of so-called genre fiction than there are of “literary” fiction, literary writers might benefit from breaking down the walls that divide their “elite” space from the surrounding landscape. The writer Damien Walter makes this point in an opinion piece for The Guardian:

When I interviewed [Cloud Atlas author] David Mitchell about his secret life as a geek, it was clear that the divide between literary and genre fiction makes no more sense to him than it does to the rest of us. In Mitchell’s words, ‘the novel’s the boss,’ and arguments about marketing categories are not the writer’s concern (Walter, Damien. “Literature vs Genre is a Battle Where Both Sides Lose.” The Guardian. November 2015).

While there are key differences between literary and commercial fiction, both are capable of conveying meaningful concepts, creating deep and relatable characters, and developing immersive worlds. All kinds of stories can have something to teach readers.