Books News: Will Self on the death of the novel; Literature at Solas Festival

Feature by News Team | 06 May 2014

WILL SELF: "THE NOVEL IS DEAD"
The novel has been proclaimed a thing of the past before, of course. In fact, 'the death of the novel' is such a commonplace subject in literary theory that it even has its own Wikipedia page, citing everyone from Roland Barthes and Gore Vidal to Saul Bellow and David Foster Wallace. Last week, one of Britain's pre-eminent writers and novelists added his tuppence to the debate – Will Self, in a piece for The Guardian, has proclaimed the death of the novel, adding: "This time, it's for real."

"The literary novel as an art work and a narrative art form central to our culture is indeed dying before our eyes," writes Self, after a pithy analysis of declining revenues and lack of opportunity in the world of music. "I do not mean narrative prose fiction tout court is dying... And nor do I mean that serious novels will either cease to be written or read," but, he continues, the novel is no longer "the prince of art forms, the cultural capstone and the apogee of creative endeavour."

This is part of a current of anti-intellectualism, according to Self. "Those who reject the high arts feel not merely entitled to their opinion, but wholly justified in it," he writes. "The hallmark of our contemporary culture is an active resistance to difficulty in all its aesthetic manifestations, accompanied by a sense of grievance that conflates it with political elitism." To Self, this is the same instinct that prevents people from "confronting the very real economic inequality and political disenfranchisement they're subject to."

He continues: "The omnipresent and deadly threat to the novel has been imminent now for a long time – getting on, I would say, for a century – and so it's become part of culture." Despte the fact the twentieth century saw more books printed than at any other time in history, the novel's increasing disappearance into electronic forms, linked to social media, with print increasingly looking set to become a niche market, have signed the death knell for the form. 

"There is one question alone that you must ask yourself in order to establish whether the serious novel will still retain cultural primacy and centrality in another 20 years," writes Self. "This is the question: if you accept that by then the vast majority of text will be read in digital form on devices linked to the web, do you also believe that those readers will voluntarily choose to disable that connectivity? If your answer to this is no, then the death of the novel is sealed out of your own mouth." He goes on to elaborate on some of the disadvantages of connectivity for the actual writing process ("one second you were struggling over a sentence, the next you were buying oven gloves," he writes of the advent of broadband).

Self also issues a beautifully-worded takedown of creative writing courses, which he says can be viewed as "a self-perpetuating and self-financing literary set-aside scheme purpose built to accommodate writers who can no longer make a living from their work. In these care homes, erstwhile novelists induct still more and younger writers into their own reflexive career paths, so that in time they too can become novelists who cannot make a living from their work and so become teachers of creative writing."

Self finishes with a pragmatic conclusion: "I believe the serious novel will continue to be written and read, but it will be an art form on a par with easel painting or classical music: confined to a defined social and demographic group, requiring a degree of subsidy, a subject for historical scholarship rather than public discourse." What do you think of his arguments? Does the novel still have life in it as a form? Can it resist the tide of change brought about by social media, and the struggling publishing industry? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below. Read the full interview with Will Self here.

SOLAS FESTIVAL WELCOMES LIZ LOCHHEAD, ALASDAIR GRAY AND MORE
As well as a cracking bill of musical acts, including King Creosote, Stanley Odd, R.M. Hubbert, Hector Bizerk and Rachel Sermanni, this year's Solas Festival (20-22 Jun) also has a packed lineup of literary guests. Scots Makar Liz Lochhead will be in attendance, performing some of her work, and also taking part in a far-ranging debate about the referendum alongside some of the other writers present. Another passionate speaker on the independence issue, Alasdair Gray, will be there to read from his new autobiography.

Joining Gray and Lochhead will be a range of writers, comedians and speakers, including Josie Long, James Robertson, Lesley Riddoch, Gerry Hassan and Tom Devine, with musicians King Creosote, Stanley Odd, Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite and Hector Bizerk also taking part in the independence debates. You can find out more, and buy tickets for the festival, at the Solas website.

SCOTTISH BOOK TRUST ANNOUNCE RECIPIENTS OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON FELLOWSHIP
The Scottish Book Trust have announced the recipients of this year's Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowships, which will see three writers given time away from the daily grind to work on their magnum opus in rural France, at the Forest of Fontainbleu in Grez-sur-Loing, a favourite retreat of Stevenson's. The Book Trust hopes the fellowships will give the selected writers the chance to meet other artists, and "absorb new cultural and social influences" which they can bring to bear on their work.

The selected writers for 2014 are debut novelist Lisa Ballantyne, children’s playwright Iain Johnstone and poets Tom Pow and Stuart Paterson. They will be staying at the Hôtel Chevillon in Grez-sur-Loing at various points throughout the year. A heartfelt congratulations to all four writers from the Books team here at The Skinny!

THEAKSTON'S CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR LONGLIST REVEALED
The longlist for the 2014 Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, awarded annually at the Harrogate Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, has been unveiled today. The longlist includes commercial fare like Lee Childs' A Wanted Man, the 17th Jack Reacher novel; and more literary or socially-engaged work such as Denise Mina's fantastic The Red Road. If Mina takes home the prize again this year, it will be the third time she has won the award – she won last year for Gods and Beasts. Also nominated this year is Ian Rankin, for Standing In Another Man's Grave, which saw the return of his iconic detective, John Rebus.

Elsewhere, debut novelist Malcolm Mackay is nominated for The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter, and Lauren Beukes is recognised for her acclaimed novel The Shining Girls; as is Belinda Bauer, for Rubbernecker, who won the coveted Crime Writers' Association's Golden Dagger in 2010. The list can be seen in full here.

EVENT: LAUNCH OF FOR FAUGHIE'S SAKE BY LAURA MARNEY, WATERSTONE'S, GLASGOW
Author Laura Marney's brilliantly funny and socially aware fiction has already won her many plaudits – now, she has written a sequel to her Highlands-set debut novel No Wonder I Take A Drink, featuring the same characters and setting. For Faughie's Sake is expressly political – with Marney promising to address that thorniest of questions for Scottish writers this year, the coming independence referendum. The book will be launched at Waterstone's on Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow on 9 May at 6pm, with Marney reading from her work and signing copies. Find out more here

EVENT: AN EVENING WITH WITOLD SZABLOWSKI @ WORD POWER BOOKS, EDINBURGH
Polish journalist and writer Witold Szabłowski comes to Edinburgh's Word Power Books on 15 May, discussing his latest book The Assassin from Apricot City, which collects some of his writing on the politically turbulent climate in modern-day Turkey. He has received plaudits from Amnesty, the European Parliament and elsewhere for his work, which looks unflinchingly at "a country torn between East and West, Islam and Islamophobia; permeated with both conservatism and post-modernity." The event is ticketed, but free – find out more here

EVENT: THE BUSINESS @ THE PLEASANCE, EDINBURGH
Taking place at The Pleasance in Edinburgh on 15 May from 2pm onwards, The Business is a free event featuring talks, discussions and advice panels from leading publishing industry professionals.

Authors, publishers, agents and others will take you through the publishing industry from start to finish, with Q&A sessions allowing aspiring writers to benefit from their in-depth knowledge of the sector. In attendance will be leading Scottish agent Jenny Brown, editor Francis Bickmore, critic Stuart Kelly, publisher and promoter Kevin Williamson, novelist Jenni Fagan and others. At 7pm, readers from Edinburgh University will take over for an evening of live literature.