What is 'Literature' and what is not?- Part 1

The latest issue of 'Outlook' is accompanied by a slim booklet on Tamil pulp fiction. It contains two translated-into-English stories, each written by a well-known writer of local pulp fiction, one of whom is said to have written 1200 novels and 20,000 short stories!

I read both stories with curiosity, because I knew that they sold, but were looked down upon by the academics and were not even regarded as 'literature', and I wanted to know why.

Well, one factor that 'cheapened' these stories (in my estimation) was that they made brazen attempts to titillate the readers. The women were used as props in both, as sex-objects, and the sexual imagination of the reader was actively stoked. They were not there because the story demanded it, but because the readers apparently did. 'Sex sells' and so, it was faithfully there in each story.

I think the distinguishing factor between Pulp Fiction and Literature could be the Intent. The former is written solely to sell, while the latter keeps that as a secondary objective.

This distinction is similar I think to the 'Commercial cinema' v/s 'The Art cinema' divide that the movies have.

And yet, there are enough popular writers/ directors whose work is accepted as a work of Art. Charles Dickens used to serialize most of his novels in newspapers. He would sometimes even pep up a particular novel that was not doing too well, by introducing dramatic sequences or altering the storyline he had thought for it. Yet, all of his novels are regarded as literature.

What Arthur Conan Doyle wrote in his time were only popular detective stories. But today, nobody has any doubts regarding the stature of Sherlock Holmes in the classic English literature.

Vikram Seth, Ruskin Bond and R.K. Narayan have written in a highly entertaining and easy-to-understand style. Yet, the tales they have woven are all high-quality literature.

So, I think that what we can conclude is that if you think the author is being true to his art, is not compromising it, or indulging in cheap sensationalism, if you sense that profit is not his main motive, then you respect him for it, and regard his work as 'literature'.

But then...

Read Further: What is 'Literature' and what is not?- Part 2