Dickens of a Debacle

December 2008

Even those who accept that costume drama isn't just a fancy-dress party, and is often artfully adapted, may nevertheless agree that television ignores lesser-known modern writers. There may be a touch of cynicism behind going for this genre. The BBC knows it can capture a guaranteed audience among the educated middle class, for whom watching classic serials is like recycling newspapers or buying organic food: as much a duty as a pleasure. Yet the drama department might well wonder why it can find accounts of finance running riot in Dickens, Trollope and Balzac but not in contemporary literature.

Consider the possibilities. Until last year, London was as close to being the financial centre of globalisation as anywhere in the world. The markets had had the longest run in history, generating envy, exultation, riches and ruin. The decisions made in Canary Wharf and the City affected everyone, high and low. No artist is obliged to write a state-of-England novel, but so few wanted to tackle the country that was staring them in the face that the essayist DJ Taylor plausibly complained last year of "the fatal detachment of the modern ‘literary' writer from the society that he or she presumes to reflect".

Taylor suggested that the complexity of finance deterred authors. But when you look at the City closely, you find that the essentials of speculation have not changed much since dealers first met in Exchange Alley in the 1690s.

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Max Dunbar

December 10th, 2008
12:12 PM

I agree with the main point of this article but it does take time to write and publish a book and the fiscal crisis has only just happened really. Patience, Nick!

Steve

December 2nd, 2008
11:12 AM

How many contemporary novelists have you actually met, Nick? it doesn't sound like many., in fact the main person your caricature fits is a novelist you admire - Martin Amis. It's sad to see someone so out of touch with literature denouncing it. GIVE EXAMPLES. without them, you're simply arguing with straw men and it's to your detriment. After all, the person who's doing most to make the world of finance understandable to book-lovers is the novelist John Lanchester. There are a lot of recent books which deal with finance, but not in a straightforward way - for example, The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst (which the BBC actually adapted!). And the novelist Ali Smith, who could also be said to adhere to part of your caricature, quotes Nick Cohen on the frontispiece of her novel The Accidental. Evidently the kind of nuance required to write - or even to read - a novel has eluded Mr. Cohen. But that's his fault, not the fault of novelists.

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