Great Literature

Is it June already? It seems like only yesterday I was running around the shops buying Christmas presents and here I am today in June with the sun streaming through my windows on a blazing hot summer's day!

I haven't had much time to blog this past month so apologies to those who may have dropped in hoping to find a new post, but once the real world gets a hold on you, sometimes it does not seem to want to let you go. But I still have managed to fit in a couple of books and to read a couple of blogs and one recent blog I read on the Guardian website gave me pause for thought.

The article was about the wonderful Daphne Du Maurier, the writer whose wonderful novels like Rebecca, The House on the Strand and Frenchman's Creek, still have the power to enchant and captivate women everywhere with their masterful blend of suspense, drama and intensity. The article entitled "Let's not get carried away by Daphne Du Maurier" was written by a Professor of English who stated that Daphne du Maurier, although capable of tapping into our most profound fears, was not much of a writer. Words like "breathy prose", that much hated word by critics "romantic" and the word which I loathe and despise when applied to books "formula" pepper John Mullan's article and it's perfectly clear that for Prof Mullan, writers of popular fiction like Du Maurier are not worthy of being celebrated, admired or studied by academics because it's commerical and not literary fiction.

The definition of great literature has always puzzled me. I've always read voraciously and my bookshelves heave with M&Bs, historical romances, classics, thrillers, biographies and even literary novels. I've always read because I derive pleasure out of reading and the kind of criticism which Prof Mullan seems to be spouting totally derides readers and writers of popular fiction for once again he is suggesting that we should all be ashamed when reading popular novels because they are substandard when compared to more literary fiction because shock horror they give pleasure to readers all over the world.

I love popular fiction and if I live to be a hundred I'll still love it. Popular fiction has been my constant companion for most of my life and it has the ability to make me laugh and cry, to escape as well as to educate and entertain me (And if you don't believe me, ask yourself how many of us own our knowledge of history to Jean Plaidy and Georgette Heyer). Now, that is the definition of greatness.