Big Books and Big Issues: How to Put Them Together without Writing about the Holocaust

I'm glad to see that someone as plugged into the media and literary world as is Russell Smith finds publishing weird. In yesterday's Globe and Mail he wondered about what "big book" is. Certainly it has nothing to do with size or heft or thickness, he says. And probably it has little to do with daily life and personal stories. More likely it's about "big issues."

Smith writes: "What counts as a big issue, I am guessing, is a trendy one, an issue of the moment. A black man who wants to become president, sex abuse in the Vatican, environmental disaster, Internet life. Or some kind of unlikely combination: black president and vampires; environment and Vatican; Facebook and global killer disease. Those would be big. (Black pope would be brilliant. You can’t have that one; it’s mine.)

"And, of course, it goes without saying, the Holocaust is still and always big – indeed, recently writers can be forgiven for wondering if there is any point to writing about anything else. (You can imagine the clever inventions going around our bars about how brilliant it would be to do some kind of “green” Holocaust novel.)"

Actually, a black Pope maybe not that far in the future, given the way that the Roman Catholic Church is having trouble recruiting Europeans for the priesthood and its strength in Africa. But I think I'd go one further with the Holocaust business: let's declare a moratorium on Holocaust novels, unless you happen to have been personally touched by it.

There are plenty of moral questions which need addressing, plenty of stories to tell. Plenty of Big Stories to tell which may or may not appeal to publishers looking for a Big Best Seller. The trick is to tell the stories in a way that publishers will want to print...and that people want to read, not just now but in the future.

You might be interested in learning that Smith has a new novel out. Called Girl Crazy, it sounds like it's hot: don't know about the bigness though....