Alfred Bester's the Stars My Destination by D. Harlan Wilson

Author:D. Harlan Wilson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030969462
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Explorations in Experimentalism

As with humor, what constitutes experimental fiction can be wildly subjective. Most readers seem to agree that Mark Z. Danielewski’s postmodern ghost story House of Leaves (2000) is patently experimental, for example, whereas I would argue that it conforms to narrative expectations and standard plot devices, including character development. From the beginning, what Danielewski’s doing and where he’s going becomes evident in spite of his many textual (re)arrangements. Other readers might think a linear, conventionally organized narrative with clear parameters is experimental if the content is unfamiliar or simply “weird.” Take Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love (1989). It’s not an experimental novel, by my reckoning, but whenever I teach the book, almost every student disagrees, locating Dunn’s experimentalism in her central conceit: a man and woman decide to breed their own traveling freakshow by genetically altering their children’s DNA and deforming them (more mad scientism!).

For me, the main component of experimental literature is newness reified by stylistic innovation. House of Leaves aspires to innovate style, but Danielewski’s would-be clever machinations (as well as his epistemological, academic satire and efforts to be metanarrational) are as transparent as they are predictable. In its historical context, Frankenstein, on the other hand, achieves genuine newness via the multigeneric and textual vivisection that House of Leaves wants to put into effect.

Not only was Shelley married to one of the biggest names in the Romantic movement, she came from literary grandeur: her mother and father, Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin, were both eminent intellectuals and writers, with Wollstonecraft, who died giving birth to her, credited as a feminist progenitor. Frankenstein is well-known for being conceived one night in a writing competition during the summer of 1816 between an 18-year-old Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, and Byron’s physician John Polidori to see who could produce the best ghost story. The precocious teenager originally composed a short piece. Percy convinced her to write a novel. It didn’t come easy. Shelley tested different conventions, concepts, and styles, none of which she found suitable. At last, she created her own line of flight.

Despite subjective views of experimental literature, we can identify certain anchors. In popular discussions, a wealth of sources attempt to establish a comprehensive definition. An anonymous article published by Writer’s Relief, for instance, lists the following criteria: “Not easy to read. Not escapist. Challenges tropes, genre traditions, and literary traditions. Not necessarily linear. Deliberately unsettling or even disturbing. Explores ‘big’ ideas. Isn’t always subtle. Knowingly mixes fiction and fact. Embraces metafiction. Plays with language. Doesn’t necessarily adhere to traditional prose layout. Might embrace mixed media” (“Experimental”). In another article for Daily Writing Tips, Maeve Maddox says that “most readers of fiction expect novels to adhere to certain conventions: at least one sympathetic character with whom we can identify and root for; a story with a clear beginning, middle, and end; a narrative style that draws us into the fictional dream; language that conforms to standard rules of syntax, meaning, and punctuation; typography that conforms to printed conventions regarding margins, etc.

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