Out of Touch: The Effects of Elitism on Mainstream Literature

Illustrated by Maja Kobylak.

As I began my research for this piece, I was sitting on a train somewhere not too far from Durham but sti ll far enough to feel a chasm of disconnect open between myself and my destination. I was not close enough to feel the satisfaction of arrival, yet too far from home to feel truly settled. It felt like limbo, which, I suppose, it was. 

The publishing industry - a field once famed for its sophistication and success in bringing unknown talents to the fore - is now characterised by a similar disconnect. It appears unable to accurately represent our diverse society. Not only are works by BAME and working-class authors often rejected in favour of works by those who better fit the traditional ideal of a ‘British’ author, but elitist attitudes also persist in critical opinions regarding much contemporary literature as a whole. The literary field is yet another sector of society failing to move with the times.

The channels that historically had to be navigated when publishing a book were specific and inflexible, requiring months of waiting before the finished product would finally appear on the shelves of Waterstones. However, with an increase in technology bringing greater access to blogs and other online writing platforms than ever before, there has been a boom in the number of self-published works on the market. As with many areas, Amazon monopolises on this, but there are hundreds of self-publishing platforms that enable authors - whose works may be overlooked by more traditional presses - to print their work on their own terms. 

Perhaps one of the best-known success stories in this field is E.L. James, whose trilogy Fifty Shades of Grey (first published in book-form in 2011) made $95 million by 2013. Though this is an astonishing sum for any work of literature, it is especially surprising given the fact that James achieved such success without the help of a literary agent, initially publishing her work as an e-book on a fanfiction site. Though James’s work has not evaded criticism, it is important to note the trilogy’s role in raising the profile of self-published fiction, particularly for works that may not otherwise reach a mainstream audience. 

Snobbism amongst publishers is not the only prejudice in the literary world: lack of diversity among authors continues to be a pervasive issue. Dr Sandra van Lente and Dr Anamik Saha’s study, ‘Rethinking Diversity in Publishing’, examines trends and attitudes within the publishing world, focusing particularly on the reasons behind the lack of diversity in mainstream literature. It is a known fact that there is a distinct absence of literature published by BAME and working-class authors in the UK. This might be partially due to a fear of publishing work of a lower quality or producing work only welcomed by a ‘niche’ audience,  but there are also issues surrounding the promotion of these works. There is a need to hire people from these communities to work within the publishing business and therefore help publishers to gain access to new audiences and authors. 

But what about issues that are less entrenched within publishing, and stem instead from the public’s internalised views on what constitutes ‘good’ literature? Aside from the role played by literary prizes in determining ‘good’ literature, reviews by publications such as The New Yorker, The Times Literary Supplement, and The Paris Review can also be used to manipulate public opinion. Access to these publications is significantly reliant on socioeconomic status, but it does cultivate a distinction between novels published by conglomerates such as Penguin Random House and Hachette and self-published works. The issue of quality affects every aspect of the literary field; it is harder to determine and thus more pervasive – literature is not science, after all, and there is no one way of defining a good novel. 

Yet, the literary canon, which still contains many outdated, and now arguably irrelevant, works, nonetheless continues to dictate public attitudes towards literature. There have been movements towards creating a new canon, one suited and accessible to the 21st century, but this is subject to much debate and yet to be put into practice. Perhaps it is time to let go of the past, to re-evaluate what is considered valuable in literature now, rather than contrasting contemporary literature with books published hundreds of years ago. 

Writing is an art, and the aim of art is to bring people together, to generate questions, to inspire – not to alienate. Literature can be a great equaliser, but only if we are all given the same chances. Though changes in literature and its distribution must come from the top, it is up to all of us to demand this change and to understand the reasons behind literary inequality and snobbery. Crucially, we need to want to create a world in which the works we read and recommend, as well as the authors who write them, are all given an equal opportunity to thrive.