Wicked

Of late, I've been trying to read contemporary fiction. If that's what I want to write, then I should be familiar with what is selling. I have a stack of books I've collected over the past three years that I've promised I would read once I finished my degree.

I graduate tomorrow.

The first book I read is Wicked by Gregory Maguire. Written in 1995, I expected a campy re-telling of the Oz story. Instead it's a straight-forward fantasy piece that humanizes the legendary Wicked Witch of the West, and ostensibly examines the definition and evolution of evil.

It's a long book. Four hundred and nine pages, with very long stretches of two characters holding philosophical discussions. There is humor, particularly in the early sections but as the book progresses the humor either evaporates or becomes forced. Maguire really wants to deal with some weighty themes but almost seems trapped by the genre. Frank L. Baum, the originator of the Oz stories, may have worked subliminally with big themes -- good vs. evil -- but he first and foremost delivered a story that transcended the ages. The Oz books were wildly popular at the beginning of the twentieth century, far more so than even Harry Potter -- and that was in the age before mass media brainwashing. That popularity comes from Baum's ability to tell a story. He's done the hard part for Maguire, creating characters and laying a template, and Maguire doesn't fully capitalize on it. Baum's stories are all action, but philosophy supercedes action in Maguire, almost to the point that action seems an afterthought. Sadly, the philosophy isn't that profound either. Granted, I've just finished graduate school so I've just spent that last three years reading some of the most intricate and convoluted philosophy ever committed to paper. Still, lack of original story, forced humor, weak action, dime-store philosophy, and still the cover proclaims, "More Than 1 Million Copies in Print." Presumably those copies have sold. If that's the case, my confidence level has risen a notch or two.

Maguire has hit on and been wildly successful with a technique that I've used: telling an established story from the point of view of a minor character. My first - virtually unreadable -- novel is a retelling of The Cherry Orchard from the maid's point of view. It's a great exercise, and one I recommend for any writer because it really forces you to examine what a master has done with his or her storytelling and deconstruct the mechanics of the work.

Wicked is actually Macguire's second book. I've also got his first, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. I suspect that might actually be a better book. There are others, but unlike Michael Cunningham or Doris Lessing, I'm not sure I'm interested in his entire canon.

Since I'm concentrating creating short fiction right now, I've decided I need to read some masters of that genre. Doris Lessing is my favorite and one of my role models. Well into her nineties and she's still churning out admirable work. If you've not read her, you must. Months ago a friend gave me a slim collection of Annie Proulx's work, Bad Dirt: Wyoming Stories 2. Proulx wrote Brokeback Mountain, which I've not read. I've started the first story in this collection, and she's very, very good.