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Notes on Non-fiction: The Charles Taylor Prize

© Diana Adams

I tend to tread warily over the area of literary non-fiction, because I find it a bit of a gray area. I think the confusion must start with language. Can we not think of a better genre title for a vast, prolific territory that traipses over the borders of literature, fact and perception. 'Non-fiction'= not fiction. Hmm, I think there is a little more at work in this field than the delineation that it is different than fiction. The title 'literary non-fiction' is outdated, and definitely misleading.

The Charles Taylor Prize for literary non-fiction was announced, and the Canadian author Carol Shields has been awarded $25,000 prize for her biographical work Jane Austen. Unfortunately Shields' battle with cancer did not allow her to accept the prize, but her daughter Meg Shields stepped up instead and revealed some interesting background to her mother's work on Jane Austen.

Because of the similarities in writing aesthetic between Carol Shields and Jane Austen, the biography raised some interesting questions. 'How does art come into being?' 'Where does impulse for form originate'? 'What sets human narrative into motion'?

These questions are difficult to answer, and in fact many writers have taken a stab at it. Both Henry James and Joseph Conrad asked these very same questions about form and narrative, and changed the structure of the novel forever.

Several of the contenders for the Charles Taylor Prize were novelists, and in the words of the trustees the prize is awarded to a work that demonstrates "an uncommon command of the English Language, and elegance of style, and a subtlety of thought and perception." The following books were nominated for the prize, most of them have exceptionally long titles(drumroll):

The Time Lord: The Remarkable Canadian Who Missed His Train and Changed the World By Clark Blaise, Things That Must Not Be Forgotten: A Childhood in Wartime China By Michael David Kwan, The Spinster & the Prophet: Florence Deeks, H.G. Wells and the Mystery of the Purloined Past By A. B. McKillop, Notes from the Hyena's Belly: Memories of My Ethiopian Boyhood By Nega Mezlekia, Jane Austen By Carol Shields, The Geometry of Love: Space, Time, Mystery and Meaning in an Ordinary Church. By Margaret Visser.

When it comes to the territory of literary non-fiction, perhaps the novelist is the best person for the job. Although, Margaret Visser certainly has her share of awards for her exemplary work that virtualy pioneered subjects centered on social/historical/mythological aspects of food. Literary non-fiction is a vast and perceptive area that some of the best writers in history have tackled. Now isn't it time one of these great writers created a better title for it?

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