David Shields: Novels have had their day
11th March 2010
A US author has claimed that novels are past their prime and will eventually be replaced by a new form of writing.
Speaking at an independent bookshop in Seattle, David Shields explained the points he made in his recent Reality Hunger, which argues that works of fact will increasingly include elements of fiction, the Seattle University Spectator reported.
Shields, who is a professor of creative writing at the University of Washington, claimed: 'The novel as a form really bores me a lot of the time and it's frankly outdated.'
The author, who has written several novels, revealed that he decided to craft his manifesto when he grew tired of the process of creating characters and plots to convey his message.
He argued that the new literary form will see fact and fiction blur into one and said works by authors such as David Foster Wallace and Dave Eggers are examples of the emerging trend.
'People feel like nonfiction can't ever be real, true art like a novel can, but that's not true,' he concluded.
Recently, writing in the Guardian, novelist A.L. Kennedy claimed writing fiction is as easy as putting 'one word after another', but admitted that seemingly endless amounts of revision are often needed.