Much debate has emerged around the so-called “genre wars” in recent years. This debate has largely been limited to literary authors such as Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Chang-rae Lee who have ventured into sci-fi/fantasy fiction writing and have brought their literary prowess to bear on the genre. I propose to discuss this slipstream tactic of blending literary and traditional genre writing, though in the realm of crime/legal fiction. Using Michael Connelly’s novel, The Reversal, Lee Martin’s Pulitzer-finalist novel, The Bright Forever, and Joyce Carol Oates’s edited anthology Prison Noir, I will explore how slipstream fiction of the crime/legal variety rises above mere entertainment to tackle major social issues, to humanize both victim and perpetrator via the rich interiority we find in literary writing, and to educate the reading public about salient legal and political matters afoot in the culture. With references to popular tv shows such as The Wire and The Sopranos as well as sales figures for the books in question, I will also argue for the popularity of such slipstream narratives and thus for their efficacy in effecting change in policy and public opinion.
About the presenterOkla Elliott
Okla Elliott is an assistant professor at Misericordia University in northeast Pennsylvania. He holds a PhD in comparative literature from the University of Illinois and an MFA in creative writing from Ohio State University. His books include From the Crooked Timber (short fiction), The Cartographer’s Ink (poetry), The Doors You Mark Are Your Own (a novel), Blackbirds in September: Selected Shorter Poems of Jürgen Becker (translation), and Pope Francis: The Essential Guide (nonfiction, forthcoming).