If it's written, will the Great American Novel be published?

February 3, 2008 12:16 am

URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, Ill.--

Want to read a contemporary American novel written in the tradition of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" or "Absalom, Absalom!" or "The Adventures of Augie March" or "Manhattan Transfer"? Good luck.

By the 1980s, fiction that was meaningfully engaged with America had all but disappeared. Yes, there are a few writers in their 70s and 80s today still committed to storytelling with its finger on the pulse of society--think of Tom Wolfe and Philip Roth. But is this departure from telling the American story because the number of readers of great literature has declined, or have publishers simply decided that audience is not worth pursuing? Or to pose the question differently, do publishers really have a sense of our national marketplace or have their global predilections for "literary tofu" dramatically altered story selections, thereby ignoring the desires of readers hungry for truth or excellence to be found in American exceptionalism? And, most important of all, have these misguided selections contributed to the demise of the great American novel?

The global nature of American publishing today is dramatically illustrated by examining the top five trade publishers in the U.S. (based on the 2006 figures represented on michaelhyatt .com). The German conglomerate Bertelsmann owns Random House, the No. 1 trade publisher in the U.S. (17.2 percent). News Corporation, overseen by Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch, owns HarperCollins, the second-largest trade publisher in the U.S. (13.3 percent). In 2004 the company, which had been incorporated in Australia, was reincorporated in the state of Delaware. Simon & Schuster is ranked third (9.2 percent) and held by American media giant CBS. Penguin Group (USA) is fourth (8.7 percent). It is an affiliate of the U.K. Penguin Group, the second-largest trade publisher worldwide. Having purchased Time Warner Book Group, Hachette Livre is the fifth-largest trade publisher in the U.S. (5.9 percent) and owned by the French media group Lagardere, the third-largest trade publisher worldwide.

The big five control a staggering 54.3 percent of the market, and three are held by consortia not incorporated in America. What, then, are the implications for U.S. writers today when a handful of multinational entities control the mainstay of opportunities in American publishing? Above all, publishing is a global enterprise. The conglomerates are calculating with their spreadsheets the global cost/return ratio anticipated for every book they will represent. Profit is paramount, American exceptionalism of little consequence.

Therefore, innovative novels presenting the American story have all but died. They have been replaced almost entirely by feminized "virtue" or sanctimonious multiculturalism devoid of truth or excellence. As a consequence, literary fiction has become entirely derivative and resistant to telling our story. Given this literary tofu that is bloodless and devoid of realism, the reader loses interest. Consequently, publishers have substituted a steady diet of sensationalized "pulp" where once great fiction held sway. The reader, in turn, no longer has the inclination or the palate to recognize, let alone savor, innovative fiction engaged in telling our story. Under these circumstances, no great American novel can be published. Path-breaking fiction telling the American story has been replaced by fabulist memoir (James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces" published by Nan A. Talese/Doubleday/Random House/Bertelsmann in 2003) and celebrity scandal ("If I Did It," O.J. Simpson's "hypothetical" account of the murder of his wife and Ronald Goldman. It was to be published by Regan Books/HarperCollins before it was canceled and later reissued by Beaufort Books as "If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer," by the Goldman family with comments by ghostwriter Pablo Fenjves and journalist Dominick Dunne.)

Are these the only American stories to be had in publishing today? What if books were judged based on ethical standards of quality and content? Could publishers be implicated for fraud? Celebrity autobiographies, lying memoirs, and trashy publications of all stripes have, for more than a generation now, been sold to the buyer as bona fide literature. If these books had been cars, they would have been recalled. But because there are no acceptable standards in publishing, the industry has not been made accountable. If faced with lawsuits, retractions are made and legal funds are established to be dispersed as needed. All the while, the presses keep running and the profits continue. This violation of ethical norms has occurred on so many occasions that readers no longer have expectations of truth or excellence. What other industry could so brazenly engage in fraud? Publishers have defamed books in their greed to meet the exigencies of the bottom line. Who would have believed 50 years ago they could sink so low? And we have the audacity to wonder why readership has declined?

Diana Sheets, a novelist, writes literary criticism and political commentary at literarygulag.com.