Reading in Public No. 17

What I talk about when I talk about literary fiction

One of the top questions I’m asked both online and out in the world is: what exactly is literary fiction? It’s a murky term! Like many publishing distinctions, determining what gets described as literary really comes down to marketing. Pitching a book as “literary fiction” really means that the marketing team is trying to sell the book to a certain type of reader and for it to be viewed in a particular way. It’s a moving target—and a subjective moving target at that.

Still, I think understanding what is being implied with the term “literary” can be very useful to readers. Many readers seek out the literary or enjoy discussing the “literariness” of any given text. Other readers actively turn away when a book is described as literary. Calibrating a concept of all the associations that come with this charged term can help both sets of readers determine whether a book is worth their time.

First, I should say that there are some great resources out there helping to define literary fiction. Sarah’s Bookshelves Live has an excellent podcast on the subject with Caroline Zancan—author of We Wish You Luck and an editor of literary fiction at Henry Holt. Other resources that popped up in a quick round of Googling were from publishing houses like Celadon Books, book sites like Book Riot, and continuing education platforms like Masterclass.

For my purposes, I avoided doing any research about lit fic for today’s newsletter. Instead, I want to offer my personal way of understanding the literary fiction distinction. I’ll share what I find useful (and not useful) when it comes to categorizing the literary and list some of my favorite lit fic picks for those just dipping their toes into this murky water.

Remember, this is entirely my own thinking—not how publishers or book reviewers or authors think about their work. But I hope it’s helpful in terms of navigating my reviews, the reviews of others, and what you do and don’t like in your reading.

What literary fiction isn’t

Let’s start with what literary fiction isn’t because, in truth, literary fiction is sometimes most easily defined as a point of contrast rather than a clearly definite entity of its own. Often literary fiction is definite as “not genre fiction,” and I can see why. Within genre fiction, books follow a set of specific tropes or expectations to tell a story that feels familiar. [Aside: This is not to say that genre fiction is uncreative (though it can be). I like to think of it like ballroom dancing—the steps, the pattern, and the rhythm are set, but sometimes it is artistic constraints, not infinite freedom, that result in the most creativity. Perhaps I’ll go into this more another day…]

When we pick up genre fiction whether its a mystery or a romance or a western or even something a little more slippery like historical fiction, we have a certain set of plot expectations about what we’re going to find there. Often our enjoyment of theses books depends on whether or not our expectations are met and how much an author is able to surprise us within those constraints.

Literary fiction is often defined in opposition to genre fiction because there aren’t agreed upon plot tropes in lit fic (although I would argue there are a set of expectations established when something is described as literary). But, to me, this definition is problematic, or at least confusing, because some of my favorite literary fiction can also be described by its genre—think about the explosion of the term “literary mystery” over the last five years. This “not genre fiction” definition also leaves out contemporary fiction, a similarly murky category that basically means a novel with a present day setting, no specific genre conventions, but is also not literary.

Another common contrast used to define this category is that literary fiction is character-driven rather than plot-driven. I think this is often true, but it’s not a particularly useful way to think about it from my vantage point. Literary fiction, genre fiction, and contemporary fiction can all be driven by a variety of narrative elements—there is certainly character-driven genre fiction and there are lots of things beyond character than can drive a literary novel. Plus this definition can serve as an unnecessary barrier keeping away readers who enjoy plot-driven books when there are plenty of page-turning literary novels.

What literary fiction is

For my own reading purposes, I prefer to think of literary as a descriptor not a genre in its own right. To me, a book is (or least leans) literary if I can say one or more of the following about it:

1. The text demonstrates a clear concern for craft. Thanks to Matthew Salesses, I’ve come to understand that “craft” is another term that needs to be unpacked. Nevertheless, when I think of literary fiction I think of a book that is consciously considering craft. This could mean dense and layered prose, the use of literary devices, an inclusion of the symbolic, playing with tone and mood, an inventive structure…the list goes on. But if it is clear to me that the author was interested in doing something with the writing itself, it’s likely to be literary fiction.

2. The text demonstrates a clear concern for theme and the themes are a) nuanced and b) up for interpretation. For my money, literary fiction makes for the best book club selections for this reason. The themes—or the book’s commentary on a central topic or idea—in literary fiction feel weighty and important, but they’re sometimes difficutl to distill into a single line. The theme is central, but these aren’t morality tales. They often look into the gray areas of human existence and offer insights that may shift or be interpreted differently by different readers.

3. The text challenges the reader. I don’t mean this in the sense that the book itself is challenging to read, although I think that is a common perception and can certainly be true. In my mind, literary fiction challenges my preconceptions. A literary book can challenging the way I think about the world, language, storytelling, values, history, humanity, or even what a novel can do. Recently I had the opportunity to attend an author event with Lauren Groff and she dug into this idea of a challenging read. I’m paraphrasing here, but she differentiated between art, which can be uncomfortable and challenges the status quo, and entertainment, which makes us comfortable and upholds the status quo. This is obviously extremely reader-dependent and subjective, but I found it to be a helpful way of thinking about what I call literary.

These are the qualities I’m always looking for in my reading and why I tend to gravitate towards books that are described as literary, no matter what other genres they might fit into.

Where to start with literary fiction

If you aren’t sure about literary fiction—or you are!—it can be helpful to start within a genre realm you already enjoy and pick up something that leans literary within that genre. Here are a few recommendations for good literary fiction starting points and the genres and tropes they most closely resemble.

• American War by Omar El Akkad (dystopian)

• Babel by R.F. Kuang (speculative fiction)

• The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson (fantasy)

• Bunny by Mona Awad (horror/campus novel)

• Clean Air by Sarah Blake (dystopian)

• Commonwealth by Ann Patchett (contemporary/family drama)

• The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez (horror)

• Exit West by Mohsin Hamid (speculative fiction)

• Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (historical)

• Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell (historical)

• The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (historical)

• I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai (mystery/campus novel)

• Infinite Country by Patricia Engel (contemporary/coming-of-age)

• Long Bright River by Liz Moore (mystery)

• Loot by Tania James (historical)

• Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra (historical)

• Miracle Creek by Angie Kim (mystery)

• Outlawed by Anna North (western)

• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (speculative fiction)

• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (mystery/fantasy)

• Possession by A.S. Byatt (okay, this probably isn’t a good “starter” rec, but it is my favorite literary romance)

• The River by Peter Heller (mystery)

• Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward (contemporary/coming-of-age)

• Severance by Ling Ma (post-apocalyptic)

• Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro (contemporary/family drama)

• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (post-apocalyptic)

• Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski (love story)

• Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller (contemporary)

• The Trees by Percival Everett (mystery)

• Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey (western/dystopian)

Readers, how do you define this murky category? What comes to mind when a book is described as literary? What literary fiction would you recommend to readers interested in exploring more?

If you want my recommendations for some fantastic literary fiction releasing this fall, be sure to check out Five for Fall and the complete Fall Fiction Compendium in Sunday’s newsletter.

Reading in Public deep dives are supported by paid subscribers to the FictionMatters Newsletter. If you enjoyed today’s topic, please consider forwarding it to a friend, buying me a coffee, or becoming a paid subscriber. Thanks for your support!

---

---

For questions, comments, or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out by emailing fictionmattersbooks@gmail.com or responding directly to this newsletter. I love hearing from you!

This email may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links above, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

-Sara