As literary seasons go, 1996 was a relatively quiet one. This past year was neither the best nor the worst of times; it produced no instant classics and no phenomenal bestsellers. But 1996 did see a number of acclaimed books from tried-and-true authors like Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood, as well as some surprising literary trends. As a whole, the year was defined not by a few standouts, but by a variety of offerings.
Ann Arbor's literary life was particularly rich in quality this year, as numerous well-known writers joined the many local authors who gave readings in the area. Shaman Drum Bookshop hosted readings by novelist Jamaica Kincaid and columnist Barbara Ehrenreich, and the University's Visiting Writers Series featured poets Derek Walcott and A.R. Ammons.
Also appearing in Ann Arbor over the year were such notable authors as Oliver Sacks, Joyce Carol Oates, Richard Ford and - during one memorable November weekend - Ray Bradbury and Mona Simpson.
Overall, local literary events featured authors on which you rely to produce intriguing and gifted work. Continuing this trend, the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for fiction was awarded to one such dependable writer, Richard Ford. His novel "Independence Day" relates the saga of Frank Bascombe, a middle-aged man taking stock of his life. It is a sequel to "The Sportswriter," and both novels are remarkable for their clear prose style and description of characters' inner lives. That Ford had finally won a Pulitzer surely came as no surprise to his audience.
The Nobel Prize for Literature, however, was a harbinger of 1996's other trend: the emergence of the unexpected. In three out of the last six years, it has been given to English-language writers: Nadine Gordimer, Toni Morrison and Seamus Heaney. Yet this year, the prize went to Wislawa Szymborska, a Polish poet not widely read in the United States. And this was only the first of 1996's unexpected literary events.
The computer industry, oddly enough, crossed over into the old-fashioned world of books this year. First it was multimedia, then Windows 95, but now ... Dilbert. Everyone's favorite computer nerd appeared in a variety of merchandise, from mousepads to stuffed dolls to cartoon books. "The Dilbert Principle," a nonfiction book by "Dilbert" cartoonist Scott Adams, became popular, as did "Dogbert's Top Secret Guide to Management," by Dilbert's canine companion.
It's too soon to tell if the Dilbert craze will last, however. Its popularity may be a subversive backlash against the '90s world of megacorporations and computerized infohighways. Or, like its predecessors, "Life in Hell" and "Calvin and Hobbes," it may simply be the cartoon fad of the moment.
One genre that shows no signs of fading, unfortunately, is the Christmas novel - that is, using "novel" in the loosest sense of the term. These books feature thin plots and flat characters, which serve only to put forth a moral - that Christmas is good. (Although any 5-year-old looking at a pile of new toys could have told you that.)
It all began with Richard Paul Evans' 1993 story "The Christmas Box," an insipid book that was made into an even worse TV movie, thus achieving a frightening popularity. This year it spawned a sequel, "Timepiece," as well as a string of imitations.
Although Christmas might seem to be an exhaustible subject, the end is not in sight. One recent offering, "Certain Poor Shepherds," is told from animals' points of view, and there may be even stranger permutations still lying in wait. Like the pine needles that fall off Christmas trees and embed themselves in carpeting, Christmas novels seem to be ineradicable.
1996 offered one more example of a good idea taken too far - books for the dazed and confused. These how-to series began with titles like "Taxes for Dummies" and "The Complete Idiot's Guide to PCs," which were highly informative and useful.
But the concept has now been applied to seemingly every subject imaginable - even "Life for Dummies," in one parody that is eerily similar to the original. The popularity of these books raises a question: Why are so many people willing to identify themselves as "idiots" in need of help? Do they really need "Beer for Dummies" when picking up a six-pack at Village Corner? It's a frightening world we live in.
Yet to counteract these influences, there were two encouraging developments in the 1996 literary world. One was
the publication of "Primary Colors," a fast-paced satirical account of the 1992 Clinton campaign. Besides the fun of trying to identify its anonymous author (Newsweek reporter Joe Klein), readers were treated to a hilarious yet in-depth political satire. A work like this is extremely rare in contemporary literature, and it made refreshing reading in comparison to most political commentary in the media. Anonymous is no Jonathan Swift, but he's no "Saturday Night Live," either.
But surely the most unexpected event of 1996 was "Oprah's Book Club." In this monthly feature on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," in which authors make guest appearances to discuss their books. The first three books selected were "The Deep End of the Ocean," the first novel by journalist Jacquelyn Mitchard; "Song of Solomon," Toni Morrison's classic, published more than 20 years ago; and "The Book of Ruth," a well-written but little-known novel by Jane Hamilton.
To put it mildly, these are not books the average person would seek out or read. Yet with their promotion on "Oprah," all three became bestsellers. It's a stroke of publicity genius, and one with the immense benefit of bringing people and great books together.
The introduction of "Oprah's Book Club" in the last months of 1996, seemed to end the year on a suitably high note. 1996 was not the most memorable year for books, but it was a good one. It was a year characterized not by one or two popular fads, but by intriguing new trends and works of enduring quality. Perhaps one thing best sums up this idea: Compiling a list of the year's 10 best books took a few minutes of thought about what to exclude, while choosing its 10 worst books took hours of Net-surfing and browsing in Borders.
Richard Ford won the Pulitzer Prize in '96 for "Independence Day."