Death is change. This is particularly true for abstract things that, by definition, can't die. So when someone of some repute pronounces the death of something abstract–of God, of art, of history, of poetry, of fiction–I'm quick to think like a serf cheering at the funeral of a king: X may be dead, but long live X. So it went with a recent Mother Jones article by Ted Genoways. Presiding like a priest over Fiction's sinking casket, a number of people in the literary world rushed to the scene as though it were a birth. The possibilities of online "comment" sections shined their brightest as writers and editors of some of the better fictional content on the Internet pronounced, with great clarity, that fiction isn't dead at all. It's changing, they said. Castigating and criticizing Genoways like any good town hall mob or meeting of minds, they built an insight that, in my mind, goes like this: Fiction is dead, long live Fiction.
Literature, Backer writes, is supposed to be a culture's conversation with itself. When he searched for that conversation online, he found "gobs and gobs of it," and he explains those findings with refreshing thoughtfulness. If you're a fan of fiction but at a loss for where to look for new material, this guide should be a great resource for you.I'll also be adding Backer's own Fiction Daily to my RSS.Via HTMLGiant.Photo (cc) by Flickr user AdamSelwood
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