Why Genre Fiction Can Still Be Literary
Genre fiction is, of course, commercial fiction; it consists of books like City of Bones by Cassandra Clare and Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James. Genre books are typically the most popular in the market. On the other hand, literary fiction is more “serious,” or so they say; it consists of books like Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden and In the Name of Salomé by Julia Alvarez. You could even count many classical novels, such as Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, as literary. In fact, literary fiction is described as being more character driven than plot driven, which means that genre books have more action and plot twists. However, I don’t think that all genre fiction books can be classified as not literary, and here’s why:
Think of books like Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Lord of the Rings. These books are considered genre because of their popularity and plot-based narrative; nevertheless, they are also much more than that. They are just as much character driven as they are plot driven. After all, doesn’t Harry grow as a person throughout the series? He starts out as an innocent, clueless, mistreated boy and transforms into a strong, popular, and revolutionary man. Even other characters in the novel change as they grow older. J.K Rowling wrote her books by creating both thrilling plots and diverse characters with different backgrounds, backstories, fears, dreams, and personalities. And for those reasons, books like these cannot be thought of as merely genre. Literary can encompass high-quality fiction works considered genre due to their commercial success.
Another reason why genre books can still be literary is the fact that 
the art of writing is meant to be creative and tough all at the same time. If we classify certain books as having less merit than serious books, then we are very close minded and unable to grow artistically. For instance, there was a time not long ago when creative nonfiction was seen as nonsense. People thought calling nonfiction “creative” meant that it was fabricated, which is not the case at all. And yet, here we are today during a time when creative nonfiction is fast-growing. There had to be a point in time when someone realized the value of creative nonfiction and decided to give it a chance.
Similarly, genre fiction can be just as important as literary fiction. We just have to keep our minds open and try to see the value of specific genre books. For example, I wouldn’t classify Fifty Shades of Grey as literary; the characters are mostly stereotypical and they do not grow all that much. Twilight is another book I wouldn’t call literary; the characters are also stereotypical, with their main goal being to get the attention of the person they love. Still, just because we have simple books like these doesn’t mean that there aren’t other genre books out there that were written with effort, style, and skill.
I’m curious, are there any commercial fiction books that you consider literary? Let me know in the comments!
Looking for something new to read? On June 3rd, I’ll be giving away a FREE eBook copy of my novel Dance with the Devil. So mark your calendar! In the meanwhile, you can check out a preview of the book right here:
