tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2695748260936745505.post7009387542663050415..comments2024-02-03T16:24:42.023-08:00Comments on 1410 OakWooD: The Lutefisk of LiteratureGunnar Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17451985764040900726noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2695748260936745505.post-23455358306559127102010-03-12T07:41:54.745-08:002010-03-12T07:41:54.745-08:00well, really, it's hard to compare genres. If ...well, really, it's hard to compare genres. If anything is probably lutefisk, it's probably poetry, which has a rabid but very small following. It remains strong in academia and on the street. The main problem with nonfiction is, one, it's so broad as a genre it doesn't really exist. Memoir has been the dominant (Oprah) literary mode of the past decade or so, but is probably on the wane (just as I finish mine, I might add). But nonfiction includes cookbooks and your grandkid's Weekly Readers. It's an old, old tradition which includes Augustine, Thoreau, Twain etc . . . nothing to sneeze at. <br /><br />The novel will likely always be thought of as the form which best bridges the gap between the commercial and the cultural. Commercial writers seek to distract, like TV; real literature seeks to change. Most writers of all types envy poets, who apparently consider themselves above commercial considerations. Poets envy them back, for having readers. <br /><br />michael whiteAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2695748260936745505.post-81231804814158595512010-03-11T13:11:42.405-08:002010-03-11T13:11:42.405-08:00Not a bad comparison. My father-in-law always sai...Not a bad comparison. My father-in-law always said that how you prepared the fish was crucial. He was always on hand in the kitchen supervising his daughters handling of the lutefisk. Fiction benefits from the same scrutiny before it is ingested.Margadantnoreply@blogger.com