Literary Novels

Why do literary novels as a whole not sell as much as genre fiction?

First, what are literary novels?

They’re character driven.

I’ll say they’re more artistic, in that they employ to a greater degree, similes and metaphors, poetic descriptions or poetry itself, flowery language, impressionistic scenes meant to invoke visceral reactions to get the author’s point across or to have the reader fall in love with the character. Yes, genre fiction employs these technics, perhaps not too much poetry.

I’ll dare to say that without a plot who will sit through 300 pages? After all poems are short and effective and therefore instantly rewarding. So, to have a successful literary novel I’d recommend a plot. Some people think that, oh, that person had an interesting life, I’ll fictionalize it. This writer is better off writing a biography, because the moment you label it as literary fiction, there must be a sweeping theme, points of high drama, character arcs, etc. All good fiction must be compelling (I can’t put it down), and IMO, tension at nearly every turn, either internal, external or both.

Literary fiction often turns genre fiction plots upside down and on purpose. The moral of the story might be there is no moral, Things Fall Apart (Chanua Achebe). There might not be a HEA, The War of the Roses. The detective might not solve the crime, the aliens might win, evil might triumph over good, or worse than that, there is no right or wrong (due to the author’s idea of reality). Hopefully, the effect on the reader is not to make them sad and despondent, but to arm them to the horrors of life so that they might avoid them. Although the author has the right to paint a bleak picture. Or, the author really doesn’t care, and being an artist at heart, he/she will paint the truth as they see it. Any fiction, genre or literary, can be heavy or light. The reader decides how absorbed they want to get into the finer details, the subtleties.

Aristotle nailed all this. Tragedy has a downward spiral for the hero which creates pathos in the reader and comedy has an upward trajectory that creates joy in reader.

Somehow I feel, I may have oversimplified this subject. There are those who don’t believe there’s a difference between literary and genre fiction. After all are we not entertained by both. Don't they both have a purpose, a theme, a moral to the story???