Does Literature Hold No Power Today?

The book blog GalleyCat noticed something interesting today when comparing a list of top authors with the people wielding power in our world today:

Is there some law that requires magazines to publish lists of Very Important People in September? Shortly after filing the authors on Esquire’s list of this century’s greatest influencers, one couldn’t help but notice Vanity Fair’s latest “New Establishment” checklist, which actually has significant overlap with its Esquire counterpart.

But not, as it turns out, in the world of literature, unless you count Bill Clinton, Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert’s status as bestselling authors.

While I have to admit I’m glad authors like Patterson or Rowling didn’t make the list, only in the sense that if you’re going to have influential writers I’d prefer they be writers who do more than entertain.  But one does have to wonder if the age of authors helping bring to light social and cultural issues is over.  Of course, an enormous part of this is simply because books have been replaced by other forms of media as entertainment.  So most people are simply not reading, and if they are reading, they’re not reading the heavy literary fiction that still tackles the the issues that writers made their niche in the last century.

Of course, the non-fiction segment is enormous; largely produced by our talking heads, celebrities, politicians and professors with the quality of their work simply all over the place.  And this, of course, often influences people.  But we’re talking about literature here… fiction.

We are not lacking in intelligent, fascinating fiction…  Umberto Eco, Michael Chabon, Neal Stephenson, Salman Rushdie, but are they leaving a lasting influence beyond a few minds in the academy?

What do you think?

Vanity Fair: Literature Wields No Power Today | mediabistro.com: GalleyCat.