Tuesday, August 18, 2009

The Novel is Dead Air

Basil L. Brylcreem here. The writer. The novel as art is dead air. You could sell it by the pound. There are no more Hugos, no more Melvilles. The only blip on the scope of art in the marketplace is Pynchon and that's only because he's technically a writer without equal. He's not a great Writer. He won't make the canon and that's a smart money bet.
The problem is that this is the age of the technico, the number and hardware specialist, and they are underrepresented to the point of disenfranchisement from the world of literature. Denial? I think maybe so.
I'm placing my bet on the novella. It's quick. I can challenge the reader with a vocabulary relevant to the argument in a few pages and not dismay them. I enjoy writing them and it shows. Take a break from graphomania and spend an hour with a novella.
Do well and be well.

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