Blog Fiction Gives Instant Literary Reaction to History

When I'm not parading around the internet as an amateur literary critic, I am parading around the internet as an amateur student of history. I love history. That shouldn't really be too much of a surprise for you. If you're a student of literature it's hard not to also be a student of history.

To truly appreciate classic novels, once must first appreciate the time period it was written and\or takes place in. After all, how can you appreciate Mark Twain's classic, The adventures of Huckleberry Finn, without understanding the history of slavery? How can one understand the underlying themes of "The Stranger" without knowing at least a little bit about existentialism and the effect WWII had on french existentialism. The same goes for other story telling mediums. How can one appreciate the conflict of "Fiddler on the Roof" without knowing about the ugly history of antisemitism throughout Europe? You have to know history to fully understand a story's underlying themes.

Here's another way literature and history combine. If you want to understand a culture at a particular point in time, one only has to look at the art that culture created in that time period. The same goes for literature. If you look at the popular literature you will also gain insight into a culture. For instance, Charles Dicken's novels give a lot of insight on England during the Industrial Revolution. Jane Austin's novel, Pride and Prejudice give us insight into England's Georgian Era.

While literature gives us insight into a culture's consciousness and thinking, it does not give instant reaction. Looking again at Pride and Prejudice is a perfect example of this. The original novel was written in 1796 in the middle of the Georgian Era. However it wasn't published until 1813 - the tale end of the Georgian Era and when the effects of the Industrial Revolution were just being felt. Therefore, despite being popular, it didn't fully reflect what England was going through in 1813. It gives no clue to people's responses to things like Napolionic Wars or the French Revolution because they hadn't happened, or were still unfolding at the time it was written.

This lag between history and literature exists still today. Unless you're an already an accomplished and famous writer(i.e. Stephen King or Tom Clancy) it can take years just to get a publisher to agree to publish your book. Even after agreeing to publish it, it will still be months to get all the editing, illustrating, and marketing in place before the book is ready to ship to book stores. Therefore, let's say a major event happens in the world such as a war, famine, or political scandal. It will be at least a year or more before any literature could possibly be published that references that event and by then, the attitudes of people toward that event may have changed.

This is where Blog Fiction comes in. If something major happens in the morning. I can have my fictional character react to it by late afternoon. It is an instant reaction that no other fiction medium can replicate. Not books, not plays, not tv shows(well... maybe South Park), and certainly not movies.

You might ask "why does it matter if the reaction is one day, one month, or even 1 year from the time of an event?" The reason it matters is that people's reactions can change over time. Here's a simple example. Let's say you're writing a novel. To help reveal something about your character you say that his hero is some political figure that is currently very well liked. Now let's say it's 6 months later and your book is going through the editing process. Suddenly that politician is embroiled in serious corruption scandal. You might make a last minute change to say that your character worships a different political figure. What is lost is the fact that, at one point, a political figure was famous and very well liked. From the point of literature that, that fact is now lost.

That doesn't happen with Blog Fiction. The time of writing and publishing tends to be so close in blog fiction that it will be too late for the author to change the name. Instead, the author would have to acknowledge that the character's hero has fallen from grace. In fact, it might dominate the story for sometime. Now, with the blog fiction, not only is the fact that a political figure was once well liked preserved, there is an instant reaction to his fall from grace. Despite being fiction, the blog fiction now becomes a source of history.

I think this idea of "instant literary reaction" fascinating. It is something that I will write more about in the near future.