Briefly

It seems the current preoccupation with what a novel should be, the utility of conventional narrative, the direction of realism in contemporary fiction are perennial, theoretical questions. Will Self was on the radio this morning talking about the importance of conveying the boring parts of daily life in fiction and Zadie Smith in NW has intimated the same (and structured the book, it seems on the notion that story happens all at once (i.e. in the last 60 pages) and gains force through the telling – and accumulation – of lots of poignant but drifting bits). Infusing the broader discussion is an insidious link to gender theory; the lurking notion that traditional narrative in realism is a masculine endeavor and that newer, more fragmented, means of writing demonstrate new female perspective (LRB on Sheila Heti). The gender-specific notion that traditional, linear, narrative is masculine and that the popular trend for dissembling is somehow more feminine is offensive, entrenching an artificial divide in male and female, in directness versus indirectness. Heti’s book outraged me, for its pert answer to the question of its title with the notion that self-conciousness is sufficient enough response; and seems, if anything a perfect illustration of gender theory that posits gender is pose, produced by forces outside individual control – and thus antithetical to feminism or power.