The Worth of a Story

"It is so difficult to defend the worth of a story." (Minot 34)

I like to read genre writing. Typically, genre writing is defined as being stories with easily labeled elements: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, etc. To dismiss genre writing as simple, formulaic, and not worth my time is disheartening. In our creative writing class we were given Stephen Minot's book, Three Genres. Minot discusses "simple" stories versus "sophisticated" stories. I wish he had used the term "complex"; "sophisticated" has elitist connotations. Anyways, I'll agree that some stories are more complex and contain deeper shades of meaning. However, disregarding certain literature simply because it can be classified as genre is ridiculous! It's throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I shifted through a few message boards on the subject of what makes genre writing and what makes literary writing. An interesting notion that I encountered is that genre writing is a constantly evolving community. No book is an island. This is particularly true for genre books, which work off of each other. A good genre book doesn't mold itself to formula; rather it will recognize the formula and then twist it or build off of it in order to instill a deeper meaning. (http://www.doublespaceforum.com/thread.php?id=37&postNUm=1)

Even works that are considered great literature will contain formula. Take Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. It's man versus nature. It's the story of an underdog. However, anyone who has read The Old Man and the Sea knows that there is a lot more to it than that. It's also worth noting that Shakespeare used elements of genre: horror, mystery, fantasy, you name it.

Check out my complete profile. Look at some of my favorite books. I have some Fantasy (The Once and Future King by T.H.White), some Sci-Fi (Frankenstein by Mary Shelley), and some Mystery (Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers). omg! Genre writing! But also what many would call "sophisticated" stories worth reading.