Who might stand the test of time?
My fatuous poll pitting Charles Dickens against three of today's big-name crime writers proved less than nothing, but it did elicit an interesting comment from Sally Crawford of Blogging for London: Which of today's writers might endure as long as Dickens?My short answer would be "none of the above." But let's think about it. It's certainly possible that the most enduring contemporary writer may be somebody we've not yet heard of -- some Van Gogh of the literary world whose genius is widely acknowledged only after he or she is dead. But since I'm trying to maintain a vague focus on crime writing, let's limit the choices to that genre. Can you think of anybody writing crime fiction today who might still be in print 165 years from now? Dickens set the bar pretty high in that regard. Too bad he wasn't writing detective stories.
Probably it's a dumb question. The things that sell modern crime novels -- adherence to the conventions of the genre and generous dollops of ironic pop-culture references -- are the very things that work against longevity. Still, there must be somebody out there whose work might grace the classics section of a Borders in 2172 -- always assuming books of any kind survive the century. Ruth Rendell? Elmore Leonard? I'm going to bed now, but I hope some other names come to me in the night.
Comments
Or maybe it's unfair to ask. Raymond Chandler wrote in "The Simple Art of Murder" that no classic detective stories had been written up to that time, no story than which it was impossible to imagine a better one. Since the definition of what constitutes crime fiction seems to be expanding all the time, who can tell what will constitute crime fiction in the future?
I'd say your two choices are candidates for long-term survival, and Donald Westlake will probably turn up in anthologies and histories of crime fiction for years and years.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
-J
PS: Nice Blog. I likey.
I have not yet penetrated the mysteries of RSS, etc., so have only just read it.
I should have said in my earlier note that I am a great admirer of American letters.
The contents of my bookshelves – prose and poetry – attest to this.
I have just bought Don deLillo’s ‘Falling Man’, in hardback.
My discovery of the writing of Don deLillo represents a high point in my reading.
I see he has already been mentioned by linkmeister and yourself.
‘White Noise’, as one example, is and forever will be Literature.
I have to admit that it's probably the genre I know least about - although London boasts a number of 'crime only' bookshops.
Yes, DeLillo is a force to be reckoned with.