Has literary fiction become "Feel Bad Fiction?"

[Anonymous]

I do feel like authors thing that depressing=serious and I’ve read more than one book where they just throw in rapes or whatever to up the trauma level.

I affirmatively seek out literature that is less depressing. I think I started a thread on it. Once I read that book about the plague that leaves people blind and leads to a dystopia or violence, I was like uhhh…I’m done with this stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's partially the way most culture works - deep, serious movies win awards. Lately that's meant dark themes and unhappy endings. Dark TV shows capture the awards - see The Bear competing in the comedy category of the Emmys. Comedy or lgihtheartedness and now anything postive is seen as not realistic or not serious. THere used to be space for acknowledging the absurdities of life, and now it's mostly the grimness of life.

I mean Everything Everywhere was absurd and had comedy elements and cleaned up on awards. Do it absolutely is possible to get awards in movies for creativity and comedy.

I loved that movie. I saw it on a plane and laughed so hard my kids were embarrassed. That movie covered lots of sad topics but in a way that was optimistic at the core.

I agree with OP's premise and I don't like sad endings despite having been a voracious reader of all sorts of published fiction for decades. I gave it up for a while because most of my choices were too tropey and/or depressing. Gone Girl was a rare exception. I found it funny.

The last book I read (long after publication) was "Little Fires Everywhere". Sorry Reese and book club...that was a sad book.

My solution was reading fanfiction for 5 years. Free stories, many with Happy Ever Afters or easy to find "fix-it" plots for real books and movies that went wrong in my opinion. Many that were nearly professional, including several stories that got professionally republished as bookstore books after they were sanitized of their fanfic origins (Ali Hazelwood, etc.).

[Anonymous]

This is why genre fiction will always be superior in my mind. There is an expectation that villains get their comeuppance, the main characters are safe at the end, and the major tension point or conflict is resolved.

There are great writers doing beautiful, creative things in genre fiction, even in dystopian scifi/fantasy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why genre fiction will always be superior in my mind. There is an expectation that villains get their comeuppance, the main characters are safe at the end, and the major tension point or conflict is resolved.

There are great writers doing beautiful, creative things in genre fiction, even in dystopian scifi/fantasy.

It's also so much more readable and enjoyable. Maybe I'm just not smart enough for literary fiction, but I rarely like it. I can appreciate that the writing is often good, usually at the line level.

[Anonymous]

I tend to agree but I think there are still some authors out there publishing who are counter to this: Ann Patchett, Elizabeth Strout, Marilynne Robinson, Karen Joy Fowler, Louise Erdrich to name a few.

For some reason it was a lot easier to come up with women's names in this category. I love Russo as well but he's not publishing as much fiction recently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's partially the way most culture works - deep, serious movies win awards. Lately that's meant dark themes and unhappy endings. Dark TV shows capture the awards - see The Bear competing in the comedy category of the Emmys. Comedy or lgihtheartedness and now anything postive is seen as not realistic or not serious. THere used to be space for acknowledging the absurdities of life, and now it's mostly the grimness of life.

I mean Everything Everywhere was absurd and had comedy elements and cleaned up on awards. Do it absolutely is possible to get awards in movies for creativity and comedy.

I loved that movie. I saw it on a plane and laughed so hard my kids were embarrassed. That movie covered lots of sad topics but in a way that was optimistic at the core.

I agree with OP's premise and I don't like sad endings despite having been a voracious reader of all sorts of published fiction for decades. I gave it up for a while because most of my choices were too tropey and/or depressing. Gone Girl was a rare exception. I found it funny.

The last book I read (long after publication) was "Little Fires Everywhere". Sorry Reese and book club...that was a sad book.

My solution was reading fanfiction for 5 years. Free stories, many with Happy Ever Afters or easy to find "fix-it" plots for real books and movies that went wrong in my opinion. Many that were nearly professional, including several stories that got professionally republished as bookstore books after they were sanitized of their fanfic origins (Ali Hazelwood, etc.).

I used to read literary fiction constantly, but feel like many books have gotten too depressing and predictable. So I, too, have been mostly reading fanfic for the last 3 years. I am well over 50 years old and am embarrassed to admit it, but my life is stressful and I will not spend my limited free time being further stressed out!

In fact, my planned weekend reading is “the irresistible urge to fall for your enemy” which is repurposed fanfic by the author who wrote a really charming Harry Potter story (https://archiveofourown.org/works/34500952).

[Anonymous]

There's Thomas Hardy if you want misery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's Thomas Hardy if you want misery.

Ha! My friend used to say, "Friends don't let friends read Thomas Hardy."

Jude the Obscure is the saddest, most heartbreaking book ever written, IMO.

[Anonymous]

I don’t agree this is either a “trend” or a new thing in lit fic. I don’t know how you want to define it, but if you look at the Pulitzer Prize winners, or the Booker winners, of the last 10-30 years, it’s a wide mix of styles. All deal with serious subjects but they’re not all “A Little Life” or something so extreme.

There’s also been a pretty strong tragedy porn streak in lower brow works because difficult topics are often conflated with seriousness or importance. (Does anyone remember the joke from 30 Rock about a character starring in a movie literally called “Hard To Watch,” which was about every bad thing that could happen someone in poverty, because they knew it was a sure way to win an Oscar?!) Or because it’s seen as dramatic and emotional, even if the actual prose or story structure is not great. (Colleen Hoover is an example of this).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's Thomas Hardy if you want misery.

Ha! My friend used to say, "Friends don't let friends read Thomas Hardy."

Jude the Obscure is the saddest, most heartbreaking book ever written, IMO.

We had to read that in high school, and it was so miserable that it just made me angry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's Thomas Hardy if you want misery.

Ha! My friend used to say, "Friends don't let friends read Thomas Hardy."

Jude the Obscure is the saddest, most heartbreaking book ever written, IMO.

Tess isn't having much fun either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's Thomas Hardy if you want misery.

Ha! My friend used to say, "Friends don't let friends read Thomas Hardy."

Jude the Obscure is the saddest, most heartbreaking book ever written, IMO.

Tess isn't having much fun either.

Or Ethan!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's partially the way most culture works - deep, serious movies win awards. Lately that's meant dark themes and unhappy endings. Dark TV shows capture the awards - see The Bear competing in the comedy category of the Emmys. Comedy or lgihtheartedness and now anything postive is seen as not realistic or not serious. THere used to be space for acknowledging the absurdities of life, and now it's mostly the grimness of life.

I mean Everything Everywhere was absurd and had comedy elements and cleaned up on awards. Do it absolutely is possible to get awards in movies for creativity and comedy.

I loved that movie. I saw it on a plane and laughed so hard my kids were embarrassed. That movie covered lots of sad topics but in a way that was optimistic at the core.

I agree with OP's premise and I don't like sad endings despite having been a voracious reader of all sorts of published fiction for decades. I gave it up for a while because most of my choices were too tropey and/or depressing. Gone Girl was a rare exception. I found it funny.

The last book I read (long after publication) was "Little Fires Everywhere". Sorry Reese and book club...that was a sad book.

My solution was reading fanfiction for 5 years. Free stories, many with Happy Ever Afters or easy to find "fix-it" plots for real books and movies that went wrong in my opinion. Many that were nearly professional, including several stories that got professionally republished as bookstore books after they were sanitized of their fanfic origins (Ali Hazelwood, etc.).

I used to read literary fiction constantly, but feel like many books have gotten too depressing and predictable. So I, too, have been mostly reading fanfic for the last 3 years. I am well over 50 years old and am embarrassed to admit it, but my life is stressful and I will not spend my limited free time being further stressed out!

In fact, my planned weekend reading is “the irresistible urge to fall for your enemy” which is repurposed fanfic by the author who wrote a really charming Harry Potter story (https://archiveofourown.org/works/34500952).

PP. I do plan to read "Irresistable Urge". I have read the original. I'm sure we've probably both posted on the couple of fanfic threads on here.

[Anonymous]

Over in genre fiction -- sci-fi/fantasy -- "hopepunk" emerged as a reaction/counter to all the "grimdark."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopepunk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimdark

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's partially the way most culture works - deep, serious movies win awards. Lately that's meant dark themes and unhappy endings. Dark TV shows capture the awards - see The Bear competing in the comedy category of the Emmys. Comedy or lgihtheartedness and now anything postive is seen as not realistic or not serious. THere used to be space for acknowledging the absurdities of life, and now it's mostly the grimness of life.

I mean Everything Everywhere was absurd and had comedy elements and cleaned up on awards. Do it absolutely is possible to get awards in movies for creativity and comedy.

I loved that movie. I saw it on a plane and laughed so hard my kids were embarrassed. That movie covered lots of sad topics but in a way that was optimistic at the core.

I agree with OP's premise and I don't like sad endings despite having been a voracious reader of all sorts of published fiction for decades. I gave it up for a while because most of my choices were too tropey and/or depressing. Gone Girl was a rare exception. I found it funny.

The last book I read (long after publication) was "Little Fires Everywhere". Sorry Reese and book club...that was a sad book.

My solution was reading fanfiction for 5 years. Free stories, many with Happy Ever Afters or easy to find "fix-it" plots for real books and movies that went wrong in my opinion. Many that were nearly professional, including several stories that got professionally republished as bookstore books after they were sanitized of their fanfic origins (Ali Hazelwood, etc.).

I used to read literary fiction constantly, but feel like many books have gotten too depressing and predictable. So I, too, have been mostly reading fanfic for the last 3 years. I am well over 50 years old and am embarrassed to admit it, but my life is stressful and I will not spend my limited free time being further stressed out!

In fact, my planned weekend reading is “the irresistible urge to fall for your enemy” which is repurposed fanfic by the author who wrote a really charming Harry Potter story (https://archiveofourown.org/works/34500952).

PP. I do plan to read "Irresistable Urge". I have read the original. I'm sure we've probably both posted on the couple of fanfic threads on here.

Haha probably!
But I am still here skulking around n the book club forum looking for “real books” to read… Hope springs eternal.

Literary fiction for kids is less depressing than adult literature - just read my kid’s copies of “the westing game” and “from the mixed up files of basil e frankweiler” when we were on vacation, and enjoyed them thoroughly! (Obviously even kids lit is not all fun, though - “Bridge to terebithia” comes to mind)