First Readings

There were a couple of things that struck me about the assigned reading (as the reading covered a wide range of writings). First off, I do not think I agree with the book’s distinction between formula fiction and serious fiction. The book claims that formula fiction is written to be sold, while serious fiction is written for something more, but didn’t Charles Dickens popular serial novels sell like hot-cakes? And weren’t Thomas Hardy’s Wessex novels extremely popular as well? And I do not agree that Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes is just formula fiction. Perhaps what separates the two is the ability of the writing to withstand the test of time, perhaps it is an indefinable element that separates greatness from mere enjoyment.

Reading the Van der Zee romance and the Godwin short story brought to light another difference between formula fiction and real fiction. The excerpt from “A Secret Sorrow” seemed cliché, even to someone who has never before read a romance (thank goodness) and had a very defined story without much room for interpretation. However the “A Sorrowful Woman” seemed to have a more universal appeal, a more sophisticated writing style, and it left much more room for interpretation and speculation. I did not see at all Godwin’s focus on the institution of marriage that Maya Leigh noticed.

Whatever this thing is that separates these two types of fiction, I think Thomas Jefferson would be less loath to read Gail Godwin’s “A Sorrowful Woman” than he would Karen van der Zee’s “A Secret Sorrow”.