In The Globe and Mail, Joan Clark said that "The fact is our literature has been too easily labelled and corralled into genres – not only children’s books but science fiction, fantasy, mystery, historical fiction and so on. Which is why the recent breakthroughs of Annabel Lyon’s The Golden Mean and Mary Novik’s Conceit, both historical fictions, are thrilling beyond measure."
Within a few hours, Clark was quoted in the opening salvo against historical fiction by literary roustabout Steven Beattie in "The Historical Fiction Rant: The GG Edition". Beattie objects to the fact that not only the 2009 winner of The Governor General's Award for fiction, Kate Pullinger's The Mistress of Nothing, is set in the past, but that six of the previous nine winners were: Clara Callan, 2001; A Song for Nettie Johnson, 2002; Elle, 2003; The Law of Dreams, 2006; Divisadero, 2007; The Mistress of Nothing, 2009. To these, he adds other successful books such as The Big Why, The Communist’s Daughter, Effigy, The Trade, The Navigator of New York, The Stone Carvers, Three Day Road, Gratitude, The Book of Negroes, The Sealed Letter, The Outlander, The Last Crossing, The Boys in the Trees, Blackstrap Hawco.
Historical fiction, according to Beattie, now has such a "hammerlock . . . on our country's literary imagination" that it has squeezed out contemporary fiction. He offers a handy list of gloomy subjects (9/11, SARS, the recession, war, bombings, etc.) that he believes Canadian writers should have addressed instead.
A national literature is created by the free choice of readers, critics, and writers. Novelists, who pick their subjects years before publication, don't want to be handed a list of worthy subjects to choose from. The surge in fiction set in the past is not only a Canadian phenomenon. It is happening in the U.S. as well, and has been going on for a decade in the U.K., where Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall recently took the Man Booker.
Steven Beattie should have taken a closer look at his own list of novels. Deserving of the attention they received, most are "as fierce and contemporary as a novel set in the writer's present" (Natasha Walter). Few of these authors would call their books "historical fiction". Most would simply call them novels.
Writers don't want to see their books "labelled and corralled into genres", which was Joan Clark's point. Steven seconded this point himself when he compiled his list of genre-busting novels that have won the GGs or otherwise been singled out. Each of those novels is unique. Throw away the lasso and the labels like "historical". Read the book and ask yourself, "Is it good?"
Beattie's blog received some interesting comments here.
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