Did novels stop mattering in the 2010s?
Searching for literature's missing impact
What was the last literary novel where its publication was a big cultural event? Was it Normal People by Sally Rooney? Was it A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara? Do we have to go as far back to The Goldfinch to find a novel so central the discourse bent its gravity around it?
To clear up the initial objection: yes, “big cultural event” as a category is an awfully subjective thing. That’s admitted. But at the same time cultural influence is also a real objective property that goes beyond sales. Barbie was the highest grossing movie of 2023 and also was a “big cultural event.” The same year, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. was the fourth highest grossing movie. Yet to say Guardians was anywhere near as culturally relevant as Barbie is clearly, objectively, wrong.
Taking this perspective on contemporary novels—asking for the same sort of cultural impact, albeit to a lesser degree than a blockbuster movie—one comes away feeling rather dismal. Some might point to the massive cultural success of 2018’s Normal People, and Rooney’s importance for defining millennial writing. Okay. That was six years ago, more than half a decade. A long time to not be surpassed. And even back then, its publication felt somewhat less culturally impactful than big literary novels used to be. Love him or hate him, do you remember how relevant Jonathan Franzen’s 2010 Freedom was? How necessary it seemed to read, to have an opinion on? His authorial mug was on the cover of Time magazine. Here’s what media coverage was like at the time: