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the past. 9. Crime and Gangster James Hadley Chase is the best known (in Africa) writer of this genre. Others are Nick Carter and Mickey Spillane. Raymond Chandler is sometimes considered to be literature for the carefulness of his writing. Like Chase he was British, though he wrote in the American language. The student who enjoys this genre should try Chandler. Few books in this genre are worth reading more than once, or indeed at all. (See the section on Popular authors). 10. Thriller This genre may be a sub-class of Crime, but usually includes politics (or at least international crime) and shades off into War and the Spy Novel. Frederick Forsyth, Alistair Maclean are two well-known writers in this genre. Books in this and the following genre sometimes give the impression of being propaganda for right-wing, anti-communist, politics - as was pointed out by George Orwell in an essay about fiction for boys. (But see also Ken Follett). 11. Spy Novels about spies have become very popular. Whether they are realistic or not is hard to say, because of course spies, whether American (Central Intelligence Agency or CIA), Russian (KGB) or British (MI5, Secret Service), work in secret and we can't easily tell what they do. In any case we should remember that fiction is a work of the imagination and does not have to reflect the real world. Since the end of Communism in Russia more information about the KGB has been discovered. It makes the fiction seem a pale imitation. John Le Carre and Len Deighton sound more realistic than most. Ian Fleming's James Bond books (which are in any case rather dated now) are among the least realistic. 12. Ghost and Occult Some people like to read about ghosts and magic. There are a lot of books of this kind, some of them about the devil. This genre shades off into Horror. (The fact that authors write books about these things is not proof that they exist, merely that people will buy the books. This fiction too is the work of the imagination. There are SF novels about cities and men on the moon, but there are no people or non-humans living there). Dennis Wheatley is a well-known writer of this genre. Another is Stephen King. |
13. Classics In every age there are thousands of books sold and read. Since the invention of printing the total number of books published has grown at an increasing rate. A very small number of these continue to be read long after they were first written. Some writers continue to be read and bought even centuries after writing their books. These are sometimes called the classics. Most of the modern books will be forgotten soon. But only time will tell which books written today will be valued in the future. It is the classics which we most usually consider Literature. In universities where literature is studied most of the attention is paid to classics - books which have been generally regarded as of lasting value. As with everything connected with the arts there are always arguments about which books are of lasting value. There can be no definitive list. It is impossible, because there are too many, to list here all the classical authors in English, but here are some of those most generally regarded as classics: 14th century William Langland (1332- 1400?) Piers Plowman Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) Canterbury Tales 15th century Thomas Malory (1408-1471) Morte d'Arthur 16th Century William Tyndale Translator of The Bible (Much of the Authorised version). Thomas Cranmer Author of Book of Common Prayer Ben Jonson Playwright Christopher Marlowe Playwright William Shakespeare Playwright and poet 17th century John Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe John Milton Paradise Lost (poem) Jonathan Swift Gulliver's Travels 18th century Henry Fielding Tom Jones Henry Richardson Clarissa (The first English novel?) Tobias Smollett Laurence Sterne 19th century |
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