The shrinking of American fiction.
Antioch Review, The, September, 2004 by Anis Shivani
On the surface, things appear impressive: the sheer deluge of novels and collections of stories, neatly packaged and ardently publicized, healthy sales, profitability prodding consolidation, a general sense delivered by the reviewing community that a tremendous amount of worthy output continues pouring forth, despite fears about the excessive commercialization of the leading publishing houses.
Even first fiction, notoriously difficult to get published, keeps making its regular mark on the general readership's awareness. Critics are generally kindly, and one gets the impression that on the whole American fiction is experiencing boom times. In the overwhelming diversity of American fiction, from Don ...