[This post originally appeared on my old, now defunct blog and is reprinted in it's entirety here.]
…or a brief, incomplete and informal history presented without commentary…
…or you say tomato I say carpet bagging; I say tomato and you say transcending the genre.
If a genre is constantly, over the course of its history, having an ongoing debate/dialogue with itself then the to be or not to be of “transcending the genre” is one of mystery/crime fiction’s longest running.
Let’s take a stroll down memory lane.
[Any bolding is mine and all of the posts should be read beyond the quotes provided.]
Arthur Conan Doyle, wrote the following about Sherlock Holmes in an article written for Colliers in 1923:
“At last, after I had done two series of them, I saw that I was in danger of having my hand forced, and of being entirely identified with what I regarded as a lower stratum of literary achievement.“
The guilty vicarage: Notes on the detective story, by an addict, a 1948 essay written by WH Auden in Harper’s magazine:
“For me, as for many others, the reading of detective stories is an addiction like tobacco or alcohol. The symptoms of this are: Firstly, the intensity of the craving–if I have any work to do, I must be careful not to get hold of a detective story for, once I begin one, I cannot work or sleep till I have finished it. Secondly, its specificity–the story must conform to certain formulas (I find it very difficult, for example, to read one that is not set in rural England). And, thirdly, its immediacy. I forget the story as soon as I have finished it, and have no wish to read it again. If, as sometimes happens, I start reading one and find after a few pages that I have read it before, I cannot go on.”
***
“Mr. Raymond Chandler has written that he intends to take the body out of the vicarage garden and give murder back to those who are good at it. If he wishes to write detective stories, i.e., stories where the reader’s principal interest is to learn who did it, he could not be more mistaken; for in a society of professional criminals, the only possible motives for desiring to identify the murderer are blackmail or revenge, which both apply to individuals, not to the group as a whole, and can equally well inspire murder. Actually, whatever he may say, I think Mr. Chandler is interested in writing, not detective stories, but serious studies of a criminal milieu, the Great Wrong Place, and his powerful but extremely depressing hooks should be read and judged, not as escape literature, but as works of art.“
Kurt Vonnegut in a 1985 letter to Charles Willeford:
“Your publisher asked for a blurb, but I don’t do those anymore having given thousands in the past, and thus having laid myself open to requests for thousands more. However, please count me among your great admirers. You are an absolute first-rate ethnographer in describing survival schemes within chaos which only politicians would be cynical enough to call a society. You have written an important book, and must know it — and must know, too, that you are in a ghetto. What are you? A writer of thrillers, right? Meanwhile, there are all these serious writers, describing America as it really is. Shall I name some of them? Would you like me to send you some of their wonderful books?
[The postscript:] Here’s a trade secret maybe nobody ever told you: The more highly educated and powerful your characters, the more popular your books will be.”
From 2004 we find this line from The New York Times review of Michael Chabon’s The Final Solution.
“A genre that is by its nature so constrained, so untransgressive, seems unlikely to appeal to the real writer.“
Here is a quote from a piece by Jeff Vandermeer over at Omnivoracious in 2008 where he wrote about some niche mysteries that he had received:
All of this is light, harmless fare for readers looking for some entertainment, especially on vacation–on the plane, at the beach, while getting a pedicure. Mystery purists and lovers of brutal noir fiction need not apply. But never fear–a Ken Bruen or Tom Piccirilli novel can’t be far around the corner. In the meantime, have a little fun–read a niche mystery in your particular area of interest. You might be surprised at what you find.
John Banville’s now (in some circles) infamous remarks from an interview in 2008:
“Now, looking back I think the invention of Benjamin Black was John Banville’s ploy to find his way out of what was suspiciously like a rut. I took the pseudonym to indicate that the venture was not an elaborate, post-modernist, literary joke. It is straightforward. I simply discovered I had this facility for cheap fiction.”
From a 2009 post on the Mysterious Matter blog
Of all the manuscripts that cross my desk, it is the hardboileds to which I hold the highest standard of writing.
From a 2009 forum post by Max Allan Collins in reference to Inherent Vice:
I say it’s spinach and I say to hell with it. Another slumming literary boy.
Mr. Declan Burke from a 2009 post
The truth about the difference between crime fiction and literary fiction, even if it’s an unpalatable one for most crime fiction fans, is that literary fiction tends to be written with more style and panache; and for those who are offended by the fact that crime novels don’t win the Booker Prize, say, well, that’s because the Booker is generally given to writers who are eloquent stylists.
A recent post from Oline Cogdill
So elevate the genre, showcase the genre and let us see how rich and deep the genre is.
Just don’t transcend it.
Sarah Weinman from a 2004 post (plus read the comments):
Maybe the problem is that “transcending genre” implies going beyond a group form, when writing is so very individual and comprises a volatile mixture of craft, talent, technique and imagination. That last one, imagination, is the most important thing of all. Some people’s ideas are wide-ranging and barely tamed; others are smaller and require stretching. No person is created equal, and hence no book is created equal. Instead of saying one voice or style is inferior to another’s, why not celebrate those who make the most of what they do while encouraging others to challenge themselves further because they are able to?
In other words, maybe transcending the genre isn’t such a bad thing: so long as we’re clear on what it truly means.
And finally, because this type of exercise could go on forever, go read Matt Cheney’s entire post from 2005
Hamlet and MacBeth were crime fiction. The Odyssey was an adventure thriller. Transcend this.