we hate to say 'we told you so'...

but we told you so...remember how we predicted that there'd be literary brawl between the dueling collections This Is Chick Lit and This Is Not Chick Lit? Well, it seems like most of the scratching and spitting is happening over in the Not Chicks camp, where they've been lobbing accusations that chick lit is sucking up all the air (and shelf space) and leaving the gals who write high-minded stuff high and dry...

Uh, sorry, Elizabeth Merrick and other lionesses of literature, but we just don't buy this argument. We at the burger graze from all parts of the market--the chick lit department, the lit fic department, and everyplace in between. And look around you, girl---popular fiction has always sucked up most of the air and space and slots on the bestseller lists, and it always will...um, it's called POPULAR because more people seem to buy it. Literary fiction will always have its small but hallowed place in our culture...which is pretty much what artists have always had in every culture.

The trend toward shopping-and-sex obsessed chick lit is hardly a new and nefarious trend either...go to the back of the stacks of your local library and refresh your memory with a little review of Judith Krantz's ouevre, circa 1980s...panties that cost 200 a pair! Jewels the size of walnuts! (but only if you're over 18...this vintage chick lit is really raunchy!)

PS...as of this post, here are the Amazon rankings for these books:

This is Chick Lit: #142,556

This is Not Chick Lit: #66,775

So quit yer bellyaching, lit-fiction-writing females! Get out there and start crowing about how you're kicking ass--like a guy would do.

PPS. Thanks, galleycat, for keeping us current on this kerfuffle.

Comments

[Lauren Baratz-Logsted]

And now NOT is at 86,000+ while IS is at 9000+ so maybe they'll need to start bellyaching again.