As far as writers from this era who I think will be read one hundred years from now--hell if I know. I can only speculate. Who can tell? For example, there was a time when John O'Hara was pretty big--right up there with Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Rauch, etc. But now? Not so much. Even Fitzgerald had a long flat spell where he had fallen out of favor and was considered out of date. But now he is regarded as important and worth reading again, because his writing represents an age. He reported and commented on a specific period of time. He wasn't breaking a lot of new ground in terms of process, but his style and content was new at one time in terms of his "authentic reporting" vibe, which has since been replicated many times over to the point of not being unique or distinctive any longer. So why do we still find his work interesting and worth reading? Does his view of the world relate to the things around us at this time? Or do we see his work as a curious time machine allowing us to sneak a peek at an era long since past? I think we still read him because his best stories are well thought out and timeless in communicating the realities of the human condition. For example, his "Winter Dreams" beautifully captures a specific feeling--that of realizing something has been lost or is long over (a person, a hope, a feeling, an entire era), even though you don`t want it to be.
Time will dictate who readers will be looking back on at the beginning of the next century (not being able to see into the year 2106 how would I know?). To me the question isn't which writer will actually end up being read in the future, but more of what contemporary writers should be read in one hundred years. This is a matter of personal tastes, and for me it is very simple-- the argument boils down to several deserving authors:
- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. A linear descendent of the social criticism of a Mark Twain.
- Richard Brautigan. A documenter of the hopes of drifters and dreamers.
- Donald Barthelme. An absurdist extension of a Franz Kafka.
- Barry Yourgrau. A modern fairy tale weaver in the tradition of the Grimms.
I recommend these four for their inventiveness, unique and distinctive styles, deep vision, and care in capturing the elusive feelings of their particular corners of time. These four writers document what it's like to live and be, regardless of socio-economic status. To me, they best represent how it feels to be around in this post-modern world of ours.
The single author I feel most worthy to be carried into the future is Barry Yourgrau. As a romantic navigator of the uncharted regions of the human heart, he captures the deep undercurrents of our unspoken hopes and fears. And thus, for me, is a more specific representative of our contemporary generation than other big fiction writers of today such as David Sedaris, Tobias Wolff, Raymond Carver, Philip Roth, David Foster Wallace, Mark Leyner, etc. The influence of these authors will eventually wane as their particular focus isn't as timeless or universally appealing as Mr. Y's brand of modern fairy tales and absurdist surreal dreams.
Fairy tales are timeless and will always be needed by societies. Mr. Y's vision is timeless because his stories occur in the misty landscape of the deep recesses of the mind. His stories are relatable as they take place in common settings--the bedroom, the living room, the forest, the mind. The problems and riddles he sets up are universal as they deal with changes, surprises, and loved ones in peril.
Good writing takes you beyond your own expectations, opening previously unseen possibilities, freeing your soul to view and feel things you would otherwise not be able to experience on your own. Mr. Y's fairy tales do just that--allow you to open up your imagination and let it soar to drift on its own, breaking away from any expectations and norms, making it possible to travel through many possibilities at once. Imagine being able to take several forks in the road, many choices and opportunities, all at the same time--instead of being limited to just one single option. This is what his writing offers: different paths, multiple adventures, unlimited choices, challenges, sudden, abrupt changes, and unexpected, unpredictable twists, turns and surprises. And that is how I view the future for everyone--multiple options, unexpected twists and turns, and overlapping possibilities. Mr. Y best represents this idea--options and constant change, available all at once, that challenge who we are, whether we want them in our lives or not.
As for which literary style Mr. Y subscribes to, I would put his work in the "imaginative fiction" category--that of no rules or boundaries, no set formulas on style, content, or subject matter. Imagine a normal story with all of its pent up restraints suddenly bursting at the seams, uncoiling and just springing forth to spray all over the place at any moment. His work is brief, experimental, absurd, dream-like, fairy tale, surreal, and/or whimsical. Sometimes all of this at once. Do this: close your eyes and dream a quick little adventure that you never expected. That would best describe the uninhibited, unrestrained heart of Mr. Y's work.
A typical story will begin: "I come home after a hard day, and go into the bathroom and find the tub filled with rutabagas," and end: "On camera my brother clears his throat and smirks. Then he proceeds to unload the most vile and preposterous lies about me, without so much as batting an eye."
Technically, Mr. Y achieves all of this with an interesting, economical style that's high on the creative and inventiveness scale. His writing is slippery smooth and never dull or predictable. His great, sweeping juxtapositions of the tragic and the ludicrous match modern reality as its absurdities, social criticism, and surrealism is laid out just the way it should be--all swirled together. Just like real life. The simple, elegant prose amplifies the sublime beauty in the grotesqueness of his distortions on reality. He also manages a good balance between the dark, hard edged, and the light and whimsical. Some of his pieces become a high wire juggling act between gravity/consequence and wonder/awe. His work maintains just enough weight and gravity without becoming overly dark or gothic, while also not slipping into silliness by becoming too fey, twee, delicate, fragile, or sentimental. And yet his little creations maintain a degree of innocent charm through it all.
As for subject matter, on the surface Mr. Y's work is as described above: modern fairy tales. But if you look closely, they delve much deeper than that. His stories are like a roller coaster ride or a good western--not only a journey or adventure, but a test of the protagonist's expectations, will, fortitude, and character. Mr. Y's work captures the real stuff that exists between people when they are truly tested. He finds out what's really there --the stuff that's revealed in the face of tragedy, change, or challenge--the stuff that's inside in the moments of weakness, fear, desperation, confusion.
Mr. Y's works are modern fairy tales told in a straightforward, flowing, minimalist style--be it nightmarish or whimsical, gothic or surreal, cartoonish distortions of the outside world, or grotesque inversions of classic internal fears, consequences leading to irrevocable sadnesses, or subconscious truths finally wiggling up to the light of day. It's all packed in there in economical prose--beautiful, delicate, simple, yet layered with elemental truths, revealing a world full of wonders that exist all around and available to anyone if you are just willing to look closer to uncover them.
I feel the New York Times Book Review summed it up best when it said: "Barry Yourgrau is an uncommon diagnostician of the curiosities of the human heart." And that is why I feel readers should, and will, be reading him in the next century.
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