I recently had to explain who Fred Astaire was. It made me realize that fame, no matter how great, is truly fleeting. And that being remembered past your lifetime (or another generation) is actually very, very rare.
Which brings me to this blog post. There are exceptions to the above rule, and here are three of them. Agatha Christie, Jane Austen and Charles Dickens.
I have written about my Agatha Christie influences. She was the topic of my master’s thesis. I know many of her stories so well that any changes in their plots for some of the more recent television adaptations make me scream inside. (Dame Agatha doesn’t need plotting help.) She died in 1976–35 years ago–and still remains published. There is a major mystery writing award named for her–the Agatha. A series of computer games have been built around her stories.
Jane Austen is enjoying a tremendous resurgence over these past twenty years. I suspect she never went out of favor, but adaptations in film and on television abound. (My Pride and Prejudice annual viewing is being scheduled for February.) Two of her novels have been mashed up with zombies (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) and sea creatures (Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters). Death Comes to Pemberley, a mystery mashup of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice characters with the craft of PD James, is my Christmas present to myself.
And then there is Dickens. How many Christmas Carol versions did you see this season? Last December I blogged every day, discussing a different version. This month I saw two stage adaptations–one at the North Shore Music Theatre and one at the Hanover Theatre. And, as always, I will reread the original before the season is over.
So why do these three storytellers survive generations while their contemporaries are forgotten? I have three theories on this.
- They are good storytellers. Though their language reflects their time, and there is a historical frame around them that needs to be acknowledged to a degree, their stories hold up.
- Their characters speak to human truths that are timeless. Christie’s Miss Marple uses her neighbors in St. Mary Mead to understand and explain all human behavior. In Austen, Charlotte Lucas settles for a husband because she is afraid no one else will come along. Dickens’s Scrooge is driven by greed, and fear. While many of these characters are drawn with a broad brush, contemporary readers can fill in some of those characteristics with information from their time, making the characters feel more relevant.
- Austen, Dickens and Christie (Dickens and Christie especially) wrote to entertain the masses. And that made their storytelling craft accessible. Themes include love, jealousy, revenge, greed. Readers had someone to hate, and someone else to root for. And while all three had contemporaries with greater skill, it is their work that survives and is still widelyread.
While my goal as a writer is not to be remembered forever, I do think that pondering the longevity of some careers is an opportunity to think about my own craft. Can I make my characters memorable while at the same time keeping them universal? How can I make sure my themes don’t get muddled? And how can I get out of my own way while telling my stories? Lots to think about as we head into this new year.
And, by the way, this is Fred Astaire (with Cyd Charisse in Bandwagon)
Thanks for the wonderful dance. And the memories. And I’m a big Agatha fan.
I am an Agatha fan too–got a copy of AGATHA CHRISTIE’S SECRET NOTEBOOKS for Christmas. Looking forward to learning more about her.
Great post! I once heard a famous children’s author talking about JK Rowling. She said that while she didn’t think JK was a great writer, she thought she was a great storyteller. After she said that, I could see what she meant. Despite too many adverbs, I love all the Harry Potter books! I expect many generations of children (and adults) will continue to enjoy them. Now I’m going to go see if I can download an Agatha Cristie mystery on my Kindle!
I agree about JK, but also think she got better as she went along. And they are great stories!
Agatha–TEN LITTLE INDIANS, THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS…you have much to look forward to! Let me know what you think.
Wonderful post! I will need to think about the same thing next year – how to entertain the reader, make them love/hate my characters and make them turn pages. It’s a hard task. It will involve a lot of work.
Thanks for reminding me about the main goal of writing: to tell a good story. Teaching your reader something is equally important, but only writers should know it
Your reader must see a good story – at least for the first half of the book 
If things go as planned, 2012 will be the year in which I will finally finish two novels and a couple of short non-fiction books. If they do not, I don’t care and will finish them nonetheless.
Happy holidays and keep writing !
Happy Holidays to you as well! And have fun finishing your novels!
Thank you for posting this. I often find myself getting too wrapped up in the whole idea of success. I think we all want to be remembered, but it’s a nice reminder that even great artists get lost in the shuffle.
Thanks again!
I agree about success. I’ve been having a lot of conversations about this lately–what is success? And how do we measure it for ourselves? For me, I just want to keep getting the work done, and getting it out there.
I often pondered the question you posed “why do these three storytellers survive generations while their contemporaries are forgotten?”
I have my own theories.
1. We have so many very talented writers to choose from today that it is inevitable that a favored writer will soon be upstaged by the next best thing.
2. The classics are required reading in schools and from early on we are taught that they are the standard of excellent writing. New writers can only hope to be compared to them but can never be them.
3. Contemporary works can’t be considered classics until enough time has past and they have proved their staying power.
I wonder if “To Kill a Mockingbird” will be considered a classic 100 years from now.
Another question, if a writer to were to publish “A Christmas Carol” today would that be recognized as one of the greatest works of literature of all time?
Oh, one more thing. You wrote that Dickens wrote to entertain the masses but correct me if I’m wrong but wouldn’t his books be out of reach of most of the population at the time? (I may be wrong about when access to books and literacy became mainstream).
I like your theories. I also agree that we are told what is “good” in school, and that in actuality there is a lot of give in that definition. I wonder if my nephew would like reading more if his reading list was a little more varied, and a lot less dire.
Dickens is interesting (at least to me). He serialized most of his novels either weekly or monthly. Once all of the parts were released the novel itself was released. Because of his distribution methods (low cost) more people had access to the stories. There were even public reading parties, where people could listen to each part, which helped with the literacy issues.
Here, here, and kudos to you, for such “right-on” reminders of Austen, Dickens, and Christie!! And you know what–our favorite Bible stories all give us someone(s) to root for and someone(s) to hate (or pray fervently to avoid!). The parables of Jesus do the same thing, as well! Bless you for this post. May your entry into 2012 be love, light and joy-filled!
The Bible does, indeed, have great stories–the basis of so many other stories as well. Happy New Year to you as well!