Recaptured literature

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Recaptured literature – a literary style begun at the turn of the century by various authors that moves away from dense and obfuscated prose. Many of the authors in this style are known for lean, insightful, contemporary stories that reflect society and future trends. The genesis of the term is unclear, although it may have first appeared in The New Yorker (1999) or Atlantic Monthly (2000) to reflect the insistence of story over prose as a traditionalist reaction to the corporate-academic literati and the dwindling base of literary readership. Popular writers in this genre are Chuck Palahniuk for books such as Fight Club and Survivor and Rick Moody for books such as Garden State and The Ice Storm, but perhaps the best example of the form comes from works such as Christopher Klim in Jesus Lives in Trenton and The Winners Circle. These novels depict different aspects of American life--sometimes gone awry--and its impact and undercurrents through society but in clear, concise, and accessible prose.

Recaptured literature is often misunderstood as simplistic and regressive, much in the way Andy Warhol was first misinterpreted as unoriginal, but recaptured literature employs the ancient form of storytelling to reflect society as it exists, while causing a paradigmatic shift in literature. In this way, the new literary form is deceptively simple, while allowing a stunning subset of authors to work at the forefront of writing.