Lately, I’ve been telling anyone who will listen how much I love my current read, Plainsong, by Kent Haruf. A few days ago, after telling a friend all about this great literary fiction novel, I experienced a jolt of panic. Is Plainsong actually a literary novel? And what makes a novel literary?
These are the kinds of questions that keep me up at night, so I began to investigate.
To my surprise, the most meaningful answer to my question didn’t come from the internet, but emerged from deeply engaging with the stories I’m reading.
How Amazon categorizes Plainsong
First of all, a sanity check. Do people outside my head categorize Plainsong as literary fiction? The short answer is: mostly yes.
When I checked, Plainsong was in the top 50,000 bestsellers in Books on Amazon. It ranked #514 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction, #1,250 in Family Saga Fiction, and #4,632 in Literary Fiction.
When Goodreads readers tag genres, they mark Plainsong first as Fiction, then as Literary Fiction.
Reviewer, Jon Hassler, from the Chicago Tribune quips: [Plainsong is] a work as flawlessly unified as a short story by Poe or Chekhov.
Between the Amazon categories, readership classification, and the Chicago Tribune quote, I feel satisfied that my gut-level instinct is correct. Plainsong is literary fiction.
If I know literary fiction when I see it, then why am I so muddled when it comes to defining what literary fiction is? For one thing, the available definitions don’t all gel.
The Literary-Genre Dichotomy
Many sources tackle the definition of literary fiction, but very few agree. What makes fiction literary? Here are some of the proposed characteristics:
artistic merit
serious (not merely entertaining)
less popular with mass audiences
NOT genre fiction
In fact, one of the more common threads in defining literary fiction is to point out how it differs from genre fiction. Genre fiction is entertaining, literary fiction is more serious. Genre fiction is popular with mass audiences, literary fiction less. Literary fiction is concerned with good writing, genre fiction is all about page-turning plot.
However, being a genre writer, myself, I’m wary to define genre fiction as the snack food of literature. So, I dug deeper.
Here are some literary fiction characteristics I can sink my teeth into.
conforms less to plot structure
may not offer a happily-ever-after ending
character-driven
explores social or political situations, examines the human condition
explores deeper themes
Explores deeper themes. That excited me, because before I began research, I’d formulated my own hypothesis concerning literary fiction and theme.
Theme. Theme. Theme. (And more theme)
Late one night, curled up on the family room sofa with my Kindle, I dove into Plainsong and would not have come up for air if my husband hadn’t reminded me it was past bedtime. What was compelling me to turn those pages?
In Plainsong, Haruf built a small, detailed world from the interlocking lives of his workaday characters. As a lover of fantasy fiction, I’m sucker for detailed world building.
Plainsong is peopled by expertly portrayed characters. I’m put in mind of War and Peace. Readers are invited into the thoughts and lives of multiple characters who come to feel like intimates we’re deeply invested in knowing.
The writing in the novel is beautiful. Haruf deftly handles time, skimming over a sequel with a poignant line or two, or stretching an important scene like taffy, describing each passing second with exquisite sensory detail.
Careful attention to these elements of craft certainly elevate Plainsong above an ordinary read, but what convinced me it was literary fiction was its treatment of theme.
There’s no question what the theme of Plainsong is: motherhood. Two school-aged boys stand by, helpless, as their mother fades from their lives. A teen girl copes with an unexpected pregnancy. The moment when I could no longer deny Plainsong was a book about motherhood, came during a tense ranch scene. Ranchers performed pelvic exams on their livestock to separate the pregnant mothers from the cows to be sent for slaughter. Talk about an exploration of motherhood.
In every way consistent with the exquisite little world he’s created, Haruf examines the theme of motherhood. It’s a theme that resonates powerfully with me in these years where my own boys are so young, and our connection to each other still so all-consuming and vital.
Theme in speculative fiction
Literary fiction pays careful attention to characterization, explores the human condition, and relentlessly shapes itself around its most important element: theme. Theme is the kernel around which the story grows, even to the point where traditional story structure might get thrown out the window.
I think all readers of fantasy and science fiction can think of genre fiction reads that share some of these same characteristics.
In fact, whenever my husband and I discuss theme in fiction, our go-to example is always J.K. Rowling. In both her fantasy and mystery books, Rowling picks a theme and doubles down on it (in reality, she quintuples down on it).
If the theme of a given Harry Potter book is fathers and sons, Rowling won’t limit herself to talking about Harry and his departed dad. She’ll explore the relationship between Dudley and Mr. Dursley, and between Ron and Mr. Weasley. She’ll show us the rapport between Draco and his father. She’ll show the rocky relationship between Harry and Dumbledore, and between Harry and a teacher-mentor. Between Harry and his godfather. She’ll even layer in something about villain, Voldemort, and his dad.
With Rowling (just as during Haruf’s pelvic examination of the heifers), the layering of the theme becomes so obvious, there’s no way to miss it.
How defining literary fiction can help us be better writers
For me, literary fiction is a subset of mainstream fiction focused on theme. Theme is the trunk of the story tree from which all branches of the novel grow. Story structure, characterization, mood, setting, word choice, and ultimately, what the story has to say about being human, all grow from this central theme.
Regardless of genre, or of how many “literary” characteristics we choose to employ in any given story, all writers have access to this stabilizing thematic trunk. Centering on theme creates the illusion of coherence and resonance. It makes the story come alive. Places seem real, characters feel like people we actually know. As readers, we’re willing to put our guards down and explore the author’s vision of what it means to be human.