The other day in french we were talking about the fact that I read a lot, and the teacher asked me what sort of books I read. "Urrrmmmmm..." I said (only in french, obviously), and I wondered what the answer might be. "Fiction", I eventually said (only in french, obviously. Actually, in english because I didn't know how to say "fiction" in french. I do now), and he said "what sort of fiction?" and I said "urrrrmmmm..." again and he suggested crime, and I said no. Then he suggested romance and I said no. He suggested mystery and I said no. He suggested science fiction and I said no. Someone else who apparently hadn't been listening suggested non-fiction and I said no.
What do I read? I don't really know how to classify it in english, let alone any other language. The last five fiction books I read were The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen, Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood, The Wave (I don't know who that one was by, although obviously I do now that I have googled it and put in a link. I found it on Reto's bookshelf in his childhood home. Apparently he read it in high school, and it really did hit you over the head with its message in a patronising kind of way as though you were some sort of teenaged moron. Apparently blindly following a leader and oppressing people who don't agree with you is bad, kids), White Teeth by Zadie Smith and A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka. What would you call this lot?
I gave it some thought on my own and didn't come up with much. A quick zip over to the Dymocks website suggests to me that "popular fiction" is the answer, Angus and Robertson tells me to go with "general fiction", and Waterstones in the UK says "modern fiction", or possibly "general and literary fiction".
I doubt very much whether I would actually use any of these terms to explain what I usually read. They all sound a bit forced and vague. Does anyone have any better ideas, though?
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4 comments:
a) I would call this modern literature. Definitely not popular fiction - your tastes are better than that :)
b) The Wave (Die Welle) is now a movie, currently showing in cinemas in Zürich (but in German, so good thing you've read the book).
c) What did you think of "Tractors"? Personally, not one of my faves.
Speaking as a Librarian:
Those would be classified as either "Fiction" or "Literature." No need to add an additional label as they aren't part of a specific genre. All libraries and bookstores in the English-speaking world have either a Fiction or a Literature section. As opposed to Mysteries, Romance, Science Fiction and so on, which all have their own sections.
So, you were right the first time.
By the way, how do you say "Urrrmmmmm..." in French?
most of the people i know would classify the types of books you read as literary fiction, as opposed to pulp fiction and, i suppose, literature (which seems to connote canonical texts a la dickens etc).
Since no one has ever pressed me for further classification than "you know, novels and stuff" when people ask me what I read, I'm assuming it will never be useful again, but it's good to know I have a range of options now (plus I'm glad that people don't think I should be saying "popular fiction" because that sounds kinda downmarket and crappy). Now the only thing left to do is translate these into french..
In answer to other questions: I really liked A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian. I know lots of people who really didn't, but I thought it was great. I was worried for a while that it was going to be all about people being mean to and taking advantage of oldies, but it really wasn't.
Fortunately "urrrmmmmm..." in french sounds a lot like "urrrmmmm.." in english. The trick is to try not to look like you're furiously trying to translate stuff and put together your next sentence in your head while you're saying it, though. I haven't quite mastered it yet.
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