Does anyone here write High Literature?

It is a hazy term which I am not sure I am able to define - and I will not call it 'literary fiction' because that is not what I mean - but do any of you aim, even if not explicitly, to write something more: more than a mere story or entertainment, to convey something which cannot otherwise be properly conveyed, to explore in depth - be it the human condition or character, history, culture, faith, philosophy… – literature, perhaps, rooted in the works of others, Dostoevsky, Mann, whoever, which is complex, sophisticated, in a way the true appreciation of which can only be acquired?

High Literature probably isn't a term I would use to describe my writing. In my opinion, claiming to write "High Literature" comes across a little on the vain and narcissist side, something I would not want to do. I wouldn't know how to define it either, but as you describe the term, I would have to admit that I never write a story for just entertainment. I always have a subtle or not so subtle underlining message. That message has to be demonstrated in the story, which could be male versus female in their different motivation or emotions. It may be the inherent self-destructive nature of the human race or its ability for vast goodness. Good and evil exists and it must be shown.

I probably put more weight on theme than I strictly should. It usually comes to me before plot. But I find the harder I try to be profound, the more certain I am that I'm failing, lol.

The author Steven Erikson posted a good article on his blog yesterday, with some penetrating points about how authors need to be aware of what it is they're saying in their fiction, not just blindly throwing a story onto the page. A quote from it:

"I am no longer convinced that every published author has given full consideration to the host of assumptions they carry into their created world. Well. There. I said it. I will not get into specific examples here, though it wouldn’t take long to assemble a fair list of ‘you-had-no-idea-what-you-were-really-saying-here-did-you?’ films, novels, and the like. That is, I can only assume they didn’t know what they were saying, unless I choose to believe that certain creators of mass media out there have no compunction about encouraging terrorism, perpetuating bigotry, misogyny, rape and hate crimes; and are equally happy advocating revenge as the primary recourse to justice."

https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/7852649-the-discussion-of-writing?re...

>2 GaryBabb:. I understand what you are saying, that claiming to write 'High Literature' - whatever you think that is - might seem pretentious, and if you'd rather, the question could be reframed as 'Is your writing mostly/ largely influenced be works of High Literature?' Either way, consider this a safe place to make the claim. I started the topic because, while it is clear that a great many people here are writing fantasy, sci-fi and crime, and that these, along with contemporary literary fiction, are being published en masse, it doesn't seem that many people - if anyone - are trying to write books that might be considered alongside, say, Goethe (or whoever).
Perhaps that is me failing to see what's there, or perhaps it's because the publishers do not look for such works. Perhaps it's because no-one is writing anything of that kind - if anyone here is, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

I'm not asking, by the way, for you to compare yourself to Goethe - or Mann or Dostoevsky for that matter - I'm just using them as examples of High Literature; I'm asking if, as a writer, you are trying to write something of that kind: that is, striving to write something highly intellectual, layered, philosophical, meticulously constructed, broad, deep - whatever.

A better comparison might be with recent winners of the Booker Prize or Nobel for literature. No one can write like Goethe now without their work's tone sounding affected and false. What we consider upper echelon today in modern fiction has a very different quality to it.

I've started a couple of other topics where I'm mused how well the equivalent of Madame Bovary would work in a fantasy setting, how revolutionary that would be, how it would raise the status of the genre if we could produce work like that. I'm afraid the literature fans would snub it for being fantasy, and the fantasy fans would wonder when the action was going to start and get bored.

I like the term 'literary fiction'.

I just completed my first novel. It is my attempt at literary fiction. And indeed, it is my attempt at the Great American Novel.

I attempted to create High Literature. I wanted my book to explain what it is to be a man, specifically a Black man in America. The theme of manhood is very important.