What Determines An Era of Great Fiction? Are Some Eras Better Than Others?

 

Scary tale!

My daughter sent me a fascinating TikTok a few days ago created by Ann Patchett, an author and owner of a book store. Her TikTok was a reply to an OP-ED by David Brooks of the New York Times moaning about the poor quality fiction being written today. I don't subscribe to the NYT  and I can't read his piece but she made it clear he was disappointed with current fiction quality and she heatedly disagreed!

First off, I'm not especially fond of critics. They are just, in their minds, a higher class of influencers for people who can't think for themselves. Siskel & Ebert come to mind. It seemed the more violent the movie, the more they liked it. When Rotten Tomatoes came out I was fascinated at how often the critics and audiences viewed the same film and had different conclusions.

Current read.

Another critic I disliked was Robert Hilburn of The Los Angeles Times. A pop and rock & roll critic he was forever extolling the virtues of some group or another that quickly passed from view while putting down The Carpenter's. Many years later, after Karen's death, he wrote an apology to her admitting their songs stuck to him where many he liked at the time had faded from view.

When I was in college as a journalism major our director taught us that if stranded on an island or to become a great copy writer (MAD MEN) you only needed three books; the Bible, the works of Shakespeare and the Sears catalog. Why, because the Bible already has all the stories of man. Shakespeare acted on these stories and the Sears catalog described thousands of items in few words but you understood exactly what each item was.

However, today, nearly 60 years later, we have been exposed, at least some of us, to a wider world, cultures and ideas that appear new to us but on closer inspection are as old as time. We are hearing their voices and finding out we are more alike than not.

Patchett goes on to list some quality current best sellers:

THE NIGHT WATCHMAN

JAMES, a retelling of Huck Finn's story that angered me greatly revealing what slavery was        really like

THE INHERITANCE OF LOSS

THE OVERSTORY

PLAYGROUND

NATIVE SPEAKER

THE BEE STING

DEMON COPPERHEAD, a youth's voice on drug addiction in Appalachia 

THE FRAUD

WHAT IS THE WHAT, the story of the lost Sudanese boys

and finally, GRAVITES RAINBOW, Pynchon's masterpiece.

In her mind these all demanded reading and held their own with the classic's. She recalled a book she read many times in the 80's, HUMBOLT'S GIFT by Saul Bellows. Re-reading it recently she discovered it hadn't aged well. Once, however it did. Times change and good fiction often captures that era and provides us with a view of our past. Does TALE OF TWO CITIES have relevance today? THE GREAT GATSBY? There may not be a civil war but conditions for one are ever present. Is WAR AND PEACE irrelevant? Hardly with the Russian-Ukraine War. GOOD fiction has much to teach us whether a tale from today or stories from ancient Greece.

I remember a visit to the Malibu Getty Museum with my 3 or 4 year-old son. My wife was a teacher for LA Unified and her grade was given a field trip there. They also gave free passes to the teachers family as they wanted to show teachers what to expect once there with their classes. My son loved books and I read to him every night for years. After our own tour, we were looking at the books in the gift shop and he pulled out a huge one of Greek myths demanding I read it to him. So we sat on the floor and I read and explained each god. He started talking in full sentences at 6 months so his vocabulary was quite good. Finally, I looked at him and said, "son, I didn't think I'd have to remember all this as an adult" and the room immediately erupted in laughter! I looked up and 30-40 people surrounded us listening to me explain Greek myths. A year or two years later we discovered he had taught himself to read. I was stunned he had read Edgar Allen Poe's complete short stories. After quizzing him I realized he really had.

The sad fact though is how many DON'T read instead getting their news and influences from TV or their phones. I can't imagine a world without books or magazines. When my wife would visit homes to meet with parents she was stunned to see no books, magazines even newspapers. All had however, a large TV.

Here are some statistics on readership:

📊 Books Read Per Year – By Age

Age Group	0 Books	1 Book	5 Books	10+ Books
18–29	~18%	~8%	~20%	~35%
30–49	~22%	~10%	~18%	~32%
50–64	~28%	~11%	~16%	~28%
65	~30%+	~12%	~15%	~25%

📌 Insight: Younger adults (especially 18–29) tend to read more books than older adults. Non-reading rates go up with age.

And it really changes by education level:

🎓 Books Read Per Year – By Education Level

Education Level	0 Books	1 Book	5 Books	10+ Books
Less than High School	~45%	~15%	~15%	~10%
High School Graduate	~30%	~10%	~20%	~20%
Some College	~20%	~8%	~20%	~30%
College Graduate+	~10%	~5%	~20%	~50%+

📌 Insight: Higher education levels are strongly associated with more reading. College graduates are far more likely to be in the 10+ books/year category.

Patchett continued to say that any book you haven't read is NEW to you. 

I think we need to encourage reading as adults, parents, teachers and start kids at a young age. I read fairy tales every night before my 3 month old went to bed. Then we graduated to CARS AND TRUCKS AND THINGS THAT MOVE, then WHERE DID I COME FROM. After my daughter was born we graduated to Colliers 10 volume children's books. They loved a gruesome tale about a dog that lost its limbs going for walks. I had to whisper it as we huddled together so my wife wouldn't hear. She hated the story and the kids loved it!

Reading is how we learn. From it we learn history, romance, relationships, empathy, tragedy and love. When my kids went to college meetings in high school to learn how to prepare for college ALL the speakers looked out at the students and said read, Read, READ! Books are designed to bring us the world; get with it! Carpe diem!

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