Is the American Novel Dead?

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by montalex

Oh, and Tree of Smoke, by Denis Johnson. A book at least the equal of anything written by Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Hawthorne, etc.

I seriously doubt that. And Hemingway does not compare to Fitzgerald.

[Rizla]

Good writing must not only be clever, it must be fun. Shakespeare understood this. The modern publisher and the self-reinforcing literary snobocracy does not.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Rizla

Good writing must not only be clever, it must be fun. Shakespeare understood this. The modern publisher and the self-reinforcing literary snobocracy does not.

Fun is good but I'm easy and willing to settle for merely "accessible".

I tend to favor content and function over form though I accept that, for some, style overrides everything.
(That is, I'll take dated or imperfect prose in the service of a good narrative or debate over a beautifully rendered story of neurotic angst.)
There is room for all kinds, fortunately.