Voices from the past

Memory is in. It's the renaissance of the memoir, the biography and autobiography. Even fiction these days is read, and possibly written, as real life-stories transposed to a fictional context. Relationships, the messier and more awkward the better, regularly trump "story" in award-winning novels, and are happily picked apart by reader, reviewer and academic alike.

Indeed, so thoroughly has story (where the narrative is organised by events-in-progress rather than what's going on in the protagonist's head) been sidelined from grown-up books that when it does show up the critics make it a point to praise (or dismiss) the author for his old-fashioned faith in mere events.

Less story also means more focus on the craft of writing, and these days it seems to be measured by skill at description, how effectively the author can place the reader in the experience. Its like virtual reality. And perhaps because "What was it like to be there?" is the motive question behind historical fiction, that, too, is making a roaring comeback.

Oddly enough, historical novels are where the modern reader is guaranteed to find story. History has already fixed the timeline, decided the events and sequence, and it remains for the author to pick a period and fling his characters against their immovable fate. (But they do tend to pick the winning side.)

So, these seem to be the big fish circling in the pool of contemporary literary inspiration: memory, history, personality, relationships and, also, politics. All these are visible in the books that follow, listed for your reading pleasure in this hot season.

DORIS LESSING
ALFRED AND EMILY
Fourth Estate, pp 288,