Let's take a look at what the definition of "Romance" is:
• love affair: a relationship between two lovers
• woo: make amorous advances towards
• romanticism: an exciting and mysterious quality (as of a heroic time or adventure)
• have a love affair with
• love story: a story dealing with love
Now when you think of the author Nicholas Sparks, what type of books would you say he writes?
From the USA Today article sent to me from Ana at The Book Smugglers, Nicholas Sparks states in no way shape or form that his books are romances.
"A romance novel is supposed to make you escape into a fantasy of romance. What is the purpose of what I do? These are love stories. They went from (Greek tragedies), to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, then Jane Austen did it, put a new human twist on it. Hemingway did it with A Farewell to Arms."Sparks pulls the one beside it off the shelf. "A Farewell to Arms, by Hemingway. Good stuff. That's what I write," he says, putting it back. "That's what I write."
"Sparks cringes at the word: romance. But since it comes up again, isn't he kind of splitting hairs with this whole "love story" vs. "romance" thing?
"No, it's the difference between Cinderella and Romeo and Juliet," he says. "(Romances) are all essentially the same story: You've got a woman, she's down on her luck, she meets the handsome stranger who falls desperately in love with her, but he's got these quirks, she must change him, and they have their conflicts, and then they end up happily ever after."
Sparks compares himself to Hemingway, thinks Cormic McCarthy, who has a Pulitzer, National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award and the best American fiction published in the last 25 years by The York Times is pulp and melodramatic.
Funny that Sparks fails to mention about his own Pulitzer and other book awards he's received. But it's perfectly okay because there are 61 million copies of his book in print and the total box office take of his books made into movies is close to $300 million.
He goes on to add that, "There are no authors in my genre. No one is doing what I do."
Do you think Sparks is correct in saying he doesn't write romance and that he's a genre all onto himself? I would love to know what his genre is that he speaks of, because I've found Sparks shelved in the Romance Section as well as the Fiction Section at the book store.
And if this scene from the movie The Notebook is any indication of the actual scene taken from the book, I think Sparks needs to rethink the genre he denies writing for.
*hot kissing in the rain following hot wall sex makes me swoon*
34 comments:
Meh. I find Sparks to be an emotional manipulator.
I'm totally fine if he doesn't want to associate himself with the genre. Of course, to look down your nose at a billion dollar genre of writing? Well, I guess that's his call.
It's fair to say he doesn't write romance, since his books don't generally have happy endings. I don't know why that means he has to look down on romance, especially considering many of his readers likely enjoy genre romance.
It was ridiculous of him, though, to disparage Cormac McCarthy and then go on to compare himself to Hemingway.
Those balls have their own zip code.
Nicholas is obviously a member of the same denial club as Margaret Atwood who protests that much of what she writes is NOT science fiction. They might be good together in a love story kind of way. Genre snobs.
It's interesting he entions greek tragedies since all his books usually end with someone dying or getting a mental disorder or leaves their lover for the lover's own good! I think he writes in a way to embrace the dollars of raomance readers and then adds his twists
It's clear to me by his condescending description of romance, he doesn't read a lot of it. Not the romances on today's market. And who compares themself to Ernest Hemingway? Really. I hope he knows that his novels are read by a great deal of readers of the romance genre and the only clear distinction is the death of his main characters. I was a fan of Sparks since A Walk To Remember, and it was so disappointing to read this interview.
I cried when I read A Walk to Remember. A beautiful love story. But since Spark's books have a tragic twist to them, does that mean they aren't romance because the overall lack of HEA?
I know the movie Dear John has a very different ending in the book so it has that perfect HEA with the main couple.
I just took his comments as proof that he doesn't need my money. Plenty of romance in the sea! You know, the romance sea...where his books are.
I haven't read Dear John, KB, so thank you for pointing out its HEA ending. After he killed off Richard Gere in Nights In Rodanthe I haven't been able to stomach another Sparks story.
My mother was so angry after watching Nights in Rodanthe for that same reason.
But still, The Notebook...
Nicholas Sparks has a Pulitzer? How? Why? I feel violently ill. Please tell me that was an error!!!!!!!!!
Bookmagic: I was being sarcastic. :)
I hate this man. I've read three of his books, but I hate him. Simply because, in my opinion, it doesn't matter what genre he writes in...it matters that he's comparing himself to the greats, putting down writers far more talented then he, and just being a narcissitic douche. I wrote a whole post on it last night.
Well, yeah.
The HEA is a requirement of genre romance. Without it, it's a novel with romantic elements.
Phew, you scared me to death!
What an egomaniac! This interview certainly cements my bad impression of him.
I have never understood Sparks huge success. His books seem to recycle the same themes and character types over and over.
I've read almost all of his books and seen most of the movies. Sure, most can not be called romances if you have to have a HEA, since he almost always kills someone off. However, The Notebook is a total romance and he is a fool to say his books don't fall into any genre and to compare himself to Hemingway.
I think Kati hit it on the head for me. I don't enjoy books that end badly, yes an ending where one dies or the couple don't end up together is bad in my book.
Granted his books can be labeled as general fiction and that would be great. I'm not going to pick up another one for a long time. :(
this is somewhat of a semantics quibble. but what i find MOST distressing is that he IS shelved in the romance novel sections on occasion and that is how i originally accidentally read him! yes the first time i picked up a Sparks novel (5ish years ago?) i didn't know who he was and thought it was a nice, disguised, cover for my romance novel. boy did i sob for days after reading it.
i vote: yes his books are romantic, and any that end happily could be romance novels but OVERALL he is not a romance novel writer.
I just really dislike it when authors announce that "No one else is doing what I'm doing/have done." (And there are several who have said it.)
It's tremendously arrogant, because the reality is that there are probably a lot of people who are writing/doing what they are - said authors just happen to have lucked into getting pubbed first.
While he doesn't write 'romances' in the sense of Harlequinn and all that, he does write love stories - and there's a lot of people who do that!
I guess he'd be mad if we tell him his books are turned into chick flicks.
There are as many kinds of romance as there are kinds of love. The romance of the first day of summer after a long school year. The romance of a deliciously spoken phrase in a foreign tongue. The romance of a chivalric warrior seeking glory in battle (the original romance, Mr. Sparks). The romance of two souls stumbling through life's vicissitudes toward union. And so on.
I do indeed believe the gentleman if off the mark.
Definitely chick flicks, Mary G. :)
"There are no authors in my genre. No one is doing what I do."
Wow. Hmm.
Okay, on this...I wouldn't know. I've never read him, and have no real desire to-although I can tell you my grandmother reads him.
She calls his books romances.
I'd like to see him argue with her and tell her otherwise.
I'm not frightened of too many people-too ornery, probably.
But that woman, I tell you, she can still put the fear of God in me when she has the mind to, and I'm 33 years old.
Gee... can anybody figure out a way to have the two of them meet?
Might be entertaining actually...
On second thought:
[He goes on to add that, "There are no authors in my genre. No one is doing what I do."]maybe he meant no guys. On comparing himself to Hemingway: My high school English teacher got mad at me when I asked why we were reading Hemingway because if we wrote like him he'd flunk us.
I watch A Walk To Remember EVERY time it's on.
I don't read his books because there's no HEA. Not my cuppa.
For me, romance must have a HEA otherwise it's "romantic fiction" or some other genre with "strong romantic elements" maybe, but that's just me.
As to his comments generally, I must say, I find humility much more attractive.
Hmm, okay--romance novels are all the same (hilarious description of what all romance novels are, btw), but clearly no one ever knows what's going to happen in a Nicolas Sparks book! Really, he could just title them One of the These People is Going To Die, I, II, III, etc.
I wouldn't call Sparks a romance genre writer, no, because he doesn't write within the genre in my opinion. But he's not as great as he thinks he is, either.
has anyone else noticed how short his novels are? They are almost the size of categories, barely hitting 300 pages.
For me, the only way I would purchase a hardcover is that it must be over 300 pages. Sorry, I am not spending $25.99 on less then the size of a Harlequin Presents.
Wow, Nicholas Sparks has some serious self-aggrandizement issues. No one is writing what he's writing? He's like Hemingway?! Seriously...
He just makes me laugh.
Oh, thank god you got up on a soap box about this so I didn't have to! I've never liked Mr. Sparks's writing, be he was so offensively cocky during his talk at the National Book Festival last fall that I can believe every word he said here. Seriously appalling. Thanks for writing this!
Love Story has a tragic ending and the story and the movie may be trite, but Love Story is a romance. In my mind, a romance or a romantic story does not necessarily require an HEA. If he wants to distance himself from us, then so be it. No big deal. He does write sappy romantic stuff however you cut it.
What upsets me about his comments is not the splitting hairs about romance/not romance, but HOW he splits them. It's one thing to say, "the romance genre typically has an HEA, and mine typically do not, therefore I do not write romance." But to insinuate that you don't write romance because you are somehow on a higher plane or "better" than those who write romances? WTF, dude?
I don't think of Sparks as a romance writer. The only thing different, though, is the lack of a happy ending. Everything else is exactly the same. I also don't know why anyone thinks happy endings are, by definition, unrealistic. Kind of cynical, yeah?
I think of Sparks as a romantic fiction writer. But he's certainly no Hemingway. Goodness. His writing is not near the level of some of my favorite romance writers, he just gets some kind of props in the entertainment industry for his habit of undercutting all the romance with a 'bittersweet' or tragic ending. Oooooh. Cutting edge.
The cynics in Hollywood do love him and option everything he writes. I'm just not seein' the genius.
Cheers,
Jane
He has illusions of grandeur. And it seems he has a very narrow definition of romance always including a HEA. NS writes to a very popular and marketable formula. Maybe that's what he meant by comparison to Hemingway. He is a former pharmacutical salesman so certainly understands marketing.
I have avoided his books & movies since Message in a Bottle was so tragic. They are ALL tragic. So what's the surprise to keep me engaged? I seem to always cry. There's enough tragedy in RL, like the recent earthquakes, I don't need my entertainment to be a guaranteed sob fest. After reading that article I have another reason to avoid him!
TGIF
Patrice
I just saw the trailer for Dear John last night when I went to see Green Zone. It looked like a romance to me (although I haven't read the book).
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