AREA LIT
Prose and Poetry - by place.
That seems to be an odd way in which to seek to classify that which we write, but we continue to do it as long as we insist on publishing and sustaining the highly subsidized “little”or “literary” magazines.
Each lays claim to being an entity, yet each strives constantly to be like all the others. After a time, reading each of them, you come to know the “DNA” of the areas, yon can single out specimens of each by linguistic clues.
One guide I find to be particularly useful concerns the manner in which writers use profanity, obscenity, sac religious terms, references to specific biological functions and eclipse ... the use of “beeps” or graphic representations of such a sound for intended but unwritten words.
Modern literature makes wide use of all of these mannerisms, of course. The very cause of generation of such terms comes from the users basic lack of vocabulary and that creation of such supplements will fill in and have shock value, as well. So much of such mis-usage it comes about when young people are away from parental and home-town social controls for the first time and striving to assert their worldliness. Gaudy embellishments are used by writers who simply do not have the vocabulary scope needed. There are still publications which do not, as a rule, accept such material, but they are rare.
Literature is also a commodity today and is marketed as such. The halcyon days of such generalized magazines as “The American . “Collier's”, Saturday Evening Post”,, “Delineator”,” Redbook,” supplemented by a host of magazines called - and often ridiculed as - “the pulps”- “Astounding Stories”,”Ellery Queen”, “Doc Savage” are gone. Many of the magazines of that day, all of which displayed what is now considered to have been puritanical pretense. The use of profanity was curbed unless it was considered essential to the story. It was seen as sign of weakness in the writing of stories to depend upon such additives. The responsibility was largely with the editorial control of the magazines - from Publisher through various Editorships.
The so called literary magazines today seems to divided themselves into geographical areas. Content is supposed to reflect such-and-such an area. Profanity is used and augmented form time to time with with other such colorations. Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, South, Deep South - with ethnic pockets found in each of them, tend to use profanity often, augmented by physical and biological terms, and religious oriented terms. The style is brisk, sketchy, profane and biased. In the West we find a more masculine type of profane usage with biological coloring. In the far west, coastal areas the tone seems to be more feminine; drifts from pole-to-pole and is quite prone to excess in any one pattern .Oriental allusions are more frequent, too, especially in the loose ,so-called poetry which clutters many half- pages. It seems to feel it is setting standards by which the rest of the writing world must use. Our fiction writing and poetry are very sensual today ...profane, I think, on purpose and ,quite often, ineffectively so..
The entire concept will be readily evident if you will read a few pf the many college and university quarterlies. Not all are, as yet, infected and some of the finest writing and reading is to be found in those which have maintained a standard of decency. But many are “carriers” infected beyond any possible reclamation. Many are repositories for all types of profane usage and sophomoric pretense.
Our “Little”magazines are committing suicide and, quite possibly, taking with them many individual creative talents worthy of more proper and proved attainment.
A.L.M. September 1, 2003 [633wds]
