Pop Fiction

[thehefner]

Not too long ago, I was in the library searching for a new book on tape to listen to, radio getting increasingly tiresome with every new Madonna song raping the airwaves. At one point I actually almost picked up The Hunt for Red October. Well, I admit I am something of a masochist, but I'm also kinda genuinely interested to see if Clancy-boy's worth the hype. After all, someone I knew chose to read that instead of Watchmen when given the chance.

But rather than punch myself in the balls repeatedly for once, as I would have so many opportunities later (for those of you unfamiliar as to why the author Tom Clancy is a bit of a sore spot for me, perhaps this will illuminate matters somewhat) I ended up choosing another Stephen King, Hearts in Atlantis, narrated by William Hurt.

I've only just finished the first story, the Dark Tower-related "Low Men in Yellow Coats," but it was awesome. Not a fun read/listen, that's for certain, but it really spoke to King's talents as a real writer, rather than the "horror writer" as the literary seems to have written him off for so long. It was nice to see that even when King revisits the coming of age thing yet again he can still take it into very interesting, dark, and sometimes downright infuriating places. (William Hurt also turned in a performance that shouldn't have been surprising, as I do rather love him even if I'm sure he's a huge prick in real life, and yet totally reaffirmed how good he can be even when he's not fucking Kathleen Turner)

It made me think yet again of how, if I ever became a college professor (To get paid for forcing books I love onto people and ranting about them!) I'd kind of like to teach a college course on literary merit in so-called "pop fiction" and page turners. Of course, to do that I'd have to read more best-sellers stuff. I already know some of Stephen King's work could very easily be studied and discussed, but I don't know if I could say the same for the likes of Grisham, Diane Steele, and yes, Tom Clancy.

Are any of them anything beyond entertaining fluff? Do any of those novels on newsstands feature actual character depth, insight into humanity or society, or prose that could be excerpted and studied? If Stephen King can, and work like The Stand, Salem's Lot, Hearts in Atlantis, Different Seasons, and so on seem to me that they conceivably could, then it just makes me wonder what other actually great stories are written off as supermarket crap?

What say you, fellows? Have any of the so-called "pop" novels or novelists ever struck you as being more than, well... "pop"? Methinks I should give a couple of these others authors a chance to see if they hold up under the hype.

Well, ok, maybe not Tom Clancy. I'll stick with Alan Moore, thank you very much.

Comments

[gore-whore-5.livejournal.com]

Chuck Palahniuk isn't exactly pop, but he's got a pretty decent following. And with good reason. I've only read 4 of his books, but they've all been really good.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't believe we'd generally see "Choke" on the shelves at the local Safeway.

I need to read his fiction. I read like half of "Stranger than Fiction" and was deeply underwhelmed.

[dormsquirrel.livejournal.com]

There's at least one class at AU that's teaching Life of Pi. That's one of those books that made the bestseller list, and is sorta pop, but also has literary merit.

No using writers who use ghostwriters, though. Just having the idea never ever counts in writing. Thus, no Tom Clancy.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Clancy uses ghostwriters? My mom constantly mentions how he has a staff that does all the research and then he writes the book around that, but does he not even do that?

[jayel4192.livejournal.com]

as far as fiction goes, Mr. Clancy is an uninspired hack. all his best known characters are based on real people. All his best plots are based on cold war headlines or war stories. the rest is political drabble passed off as "fact" because a fictional character (who isn't really fictional) says it. argh!

having said all that. if you really simply must pick one up, check out Without Remorse. It's at least a interesting study on revenge.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

That last one actually sounds sorta interesting, the way you put it.

[jayel4192.livejournal.com]

it is sorta interesting. first, it's not based around Jack Ryan (alec baldwin, harrison ford). it's the backstory of Jon Clark (Willem DaFoe in Clear and Present Danger, Liev Schrieber in Sum of All Fears I think). It's set in the seventies and follows the path of a scary vietnam vet becoming a... shall we say "tool of foreign policy"... that he is in the regular series.

it helps if you're a fan of the character going in, but it's not necessary.

[wendywoowho.livejournal.com]

I'm a pop culture scholar. I think that might disqualify me from this conversation, because I think "HELL YES, POP CULTURE HAS MORE TO IT THAN JUST FLUFF."

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Well I certainly think that too, comic fan that I am, but I mean specifically from the millionaire supermarket paperback authors.

[wendywoowho.livejournal.com]

I say they're like owl pellets ... detritus, but informative of the culture.

[icewolf010.livejournal.com]

Define "pop" novelist.

Charles Dickens was one, once.

Some would say Jane Austen still is. (Don't believe me? Check out Kiera Knightly's latest project. And for what project did Emma Thompson win her Oscar? And where did American audiences first really get introduced to Colin Firth?)

Fiction is fiction. Sometimes it achieves literature status. Pamela: or, Virtue Rewarded is widely recognized as the first novel, per se, in the English language. And it is utter dreck. It's over two hundred fifty years old, but it will never be literature. Its historiocity is the only reason it's even occasionally found in print. On the other hand, I think science fiction/fantasy writer Lois McMaster Bujold delivers literature nine times out of ten (I was a wee bit disappoined in her latest, but that's another post).

Now, I'm sure you're thinking, "Okay, but what is literature?" In brief, and in my opinion, it is writing that is skillfully executed, that resonates with the human experience, and that stands the test of time. Will people read Tom Clancy in a hundred years? Maybe as part of a "Fiction of the Cold War" class. Maybe. But I firmly believe that people will voluntarily, on their own, go looking for Mirror Dance or Paladin of Souls.

On a completely unrelated note, I come from the carwreck where Calvert/St. Mary's/Charles Counties, MD all meet. Tom Clancy (who lives in Calvert County) is loathed and reviled by all his neighbors. For like a 50 mile radius. Just thought you'd be interested to know. :)

[irish-caffeine.livejournal.com]

Well, she already made the point I was going to make about Dickens. Right now I'm reading 'The Malteese Falcoln'--pulp detective story now considered a literary benchmark.

I once had a conversation with Dave where he said that the only difference between "high" and "low" art is who is paying attention. I agree, for starters.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

That Dickens point is exactly the sort of thing that I'd include in the class, were I to ever teach it.

As for Clancy the Elder being a dick, I suspected as such. He's pretty much a deadbeat dad who just throws money at his son but is never there for him. Kinda helps explain how Clancy the Younger turned out.

and you wonder why i don't read your lj often...

[erzebetbathory.livejournal.com]

i actually have a couple things to say to this.

first of all, you haven't met his dad long enough to make any sound judgement about his character. a week from now, i will have met him and spent a considerable amount of time with him over thanksgiving, and then again for christmas, and *then* i can tell you exactly how big of a dick he does or does not happen to be. also, i've only read hunt for red october, and clear and present danger, but i can tell you that they were pretty fucking good, a lot better than the bullshit stephen king has been turning out lately.

secondly, sure, his dad may not have always been there for him, but i assure you, he doesn't let it completely affect who he is and control his life (unlike *some* people with daddy problems) he actually stands on his own quite well, and is very independent and a better person for it.

lastly, you really don't even know clancy that well, so who are you to tell people anything about how he "turned out"? i'll have you know that clancy is a very good person, one of the few out there, and he treats me better than i've ever been treated before. frankly i don't see this relationship ending any time soon, and i can honestly say that i am happier being with him than i've ever been before. and yeah, you talk about seeing where things are ten years from now, i wouldn't be surprised if you end up exactly where you are now and i end up quite happily married.

there's more i could say, but i'm just getting progressively more offended the more i think about this, so i'm done.

[pokeyburro.livejournal.com]

I would recommend The Hunt for Red October, Red Storm Rising, and The Sum of All Fears. I wasn't so keen at the time at Patriot Games, Cardinal of the Kremlin, Clear and Present Danger, and Debt of Honor, but I might be more so if I were to re-read them. I'll recommend Without Remorse and Rainbow Six, too, on second thought. I recommend against The Bear and the Dragon; felt too heavy-handed to me; didn't have enough of the "oh no, what will happen next?" feeling I had with the others. I've not yet gotten around to reading Red Rabbit.

With this said, plots and characters are important in Clancy's books, and they have a history, so you'll probably want to read the novels in the order they take place. (I no longer remember that exact timeline, but you have an Intarweb.) There are some really cool moments that you won't glom on to unless you read the whole story.

With the earlier books, the main audience is more military than civilian, more tech than low-tech, more realist than idealist. They're fiction for people who like reading about military history, or any history that involves struggle among world powers.

Nothing goes exactly right in war, as any vet will tell you, and the earlier novels convey that well. Soldiers and intelligence analysts have to work with imperfect tools and technologies; the enemy never does exactly what they expect; stupid stuff happens for no better reason than a log fell off a boat; the good guys win by way of there being a lot of them acting morally and professionally, but also by getting a few lucky breaks. Sometimes they don't get lucky breaks, and they lose, and the bad guys get away with it. It feels real to the reader. I've yet to see a comic book that does it quite the same way (though of course, we both know I'm nowhere near as well-read as you in that department).

This perspective on military history is indispensible. The yarns told in Clancy's earlier novels are reminiscent with absolutely real accounts given in non-fiction by historians like Stephen Ambrose. They're not dry and mundane; there are some real "holy crap, I can't believe that actually happened - but I guess it could" moments infusing both places.

I would classify (early) Clancy as being in the realist movement, if it could be said to span that long. There are hints of Hemingway and London in Clancy's novels.

I keep emphasing early Clancy, and there's a reason for that. As time went on, I felt like his novels lost that realist bent, and went more and more toward morality plays. Nearly everything in The Bear and the Dragon ended the way the reader felt it should. Justice was done on nearly every page. The good guys were able to thwart the bad guys at every turn, and had no problem holding the moral high ground. (Maybe I'm just fixated on TBatD. It could be that that was the lone deep dip in a relatively even trend.)

As for Mr. Clancy's character - I've heard good things and bad things about him. He might not stand to scrutiny by a Army sergeant major, but he knows a lot more about the US military than your average American, and knows how to tell a story around it. On the other hand, I've heard tales of him via military guys with no axe to grind, wherein he did a thing or two that one wouldn't consider classy. With that said, I'd love to spend a Thanksgiving with him; there could be some nifty conversations there.

[chickenhat.livejournal.com]

Now THAT was an informative review.

But that's our pokeyburro for you.