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The Nought-y Aughties?
January 3, 2008
Honestly, when I read the Comments section in The Guardian Books blog, I wonder why I bother to continue publishing entries -- these reader posts are far funnier and more interesting than anything I write. For example, in response to Giles Foden's latest post, "piersja" writes:
"Arts blog editor - Not exactly a golden start to the year on the arts blog. I can only imagine everyone is still on holiday in mind if not in body if these half arsed state of the nation arts-wise retrospective gobbets are the best you can come up with to ring in the New Year. Quite why it is necessary to look back on a decade and assess it when it doesn't end for another two years is baffling (if it was 2006 you could maybe justify a mid-season review) - but this stuff really smacks of having exhausted reviewing 2007, having nothing proper to put up so extending the year end reviews back a bit further and into the new year. (Apologies if this was a half arsed page filler in the big paper that's on the blog as well - if so I direct my complaints in the paper's arts editor's direction.)"
While I agree that trying to sum up an unfinished decade isn't particularly easy, it's interesting to think about for a while. Foden focuses on Ian McEwan and Zadie Smith and bypasses (to the hilarity of the commenters) J.K. Rowling and Neil Gaiman and more. Scads more blog entries and posts could be devoted alone to his assertion that "What is needed now is a novelist from the underclass."
My purpose today is to point out that Foden's focus on "British fiction" misses the mark, something I realized when one of the commenters attempted to go back to the 20th century's "noughties" and see which books have had a lasting impact... that commenter included Henry James, "if you want to count him as British."
A century later, the lines are blurrier. Another commenter mentions Haruki Murakami, who is Japanese -- but his novels are so widely read in the US and the UK that putting him in a category like "Japanese fiction" would be ridiculous. Zadie Smith may have been brought up in London and educated at Cambridge (Mr. Foden, as many of your commenters pointed out, these are scarcely "humble beginnings" -- Jo Rowling's having been on the dole more accurately qualifies), but her writing encompasses multicultural experiences that didn't exist when the term "British fiction" was first coined.
Before I natter on too much longer, let me ask things: do you see any trends or authors who seem to define this decade? I have one: graphic novels! (Not sure Giles Foden would agree...)
Posted by Bethanne Patrick on January 3, 2008 | Comments (1)
