8/8/2019 10 Emerging Book Genres

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/10-emerging-book-genres 1/6

10 Emerging Book Genres You’ve Probably Never Heard Of 

Ref:

http://librarysciencedegree.org/10-emerging-book-genres-you%E2%80%99ve-

probably-never-heard-of/

 To clarify, as the writer of this article was unsure, that I, Judyth Vary Baker, indeed

invented this new literary genre at the University of Central Florida, under the

direction of Prof. Pat Rushin. This article explains the provenance and development

of the genre, and why it is important in today’s uncertain world.

6.) Progression Literature

The true origins of this article stand as somewhat difficult to pinpoint given the number of spam blogs copying and

pasting it for search engine hits, but the one listed here seems to be the oldest of the lot. More than likely the original.Here, Judyth Vary Baker pulls from sources as varied as Scientific American and the human experience to illustratethe concepts behind progression literature. The genre attempts to create a perpetual dénouement that mimics howpeople perceive time and events in their lives. Reality does not tie up all its loose ends, even continuing past thedeath of the protagonists experiencing their own unique narratives. From this, writers of progression works seek tobuild a more relatable piece of literature for audiences pining to know more. Each story concludes with open-endedness, leaving readers to speculate and form their own ideas and opinions regarding the characters’ futures. Atits center lay the all-too-human pursuit of “truth,” understanding and clarity – every writer, every narrator pursuesanswers that may or may not even come. It has postmodernism and poststructuralism (if not an earlier movement) tothank for its philosophical roots, though its heavy emphasis on the past, the pursuit of an often subjective truth andattempts to always stay suspended in a state of dénouement lead Baker to consider progression a genre or subgenrein and of itself. How successful this experiment ends up is anyone’s guess, though it does hold considerable promise.

8/8/2019 10 Emerging Book Genres

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/10-emerging-book-genres 2/6

8/8/2019 10 Emerging Book Genres

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/10-emerging-book-genres 3/6

8/8/2019 10 Emerging Book Genres

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/10-emerging-book-genres 4/6

possible how progression literature unfolds the “truth” and how the reader’s world can be, in

fact, turned upside down when more “truth” becomes available..

In the real world, a simple example of ‘progression’ in what is perceived as ‘true’ is the

declaration made that Saddam Hussein was known to have WMDs—weapons of mass

destruction-- ready to use against the people of the United States. Both US and British leaders

told their people that this was solid information. On TV, viewers were shown satellite photos of 

 where these dreadful weapons were stashed. Iraq was invaded, Saddam was captured and hung,

and at least a million Iraqui’s died—but no WMD’s were found. The new ‘denouement’ then

involved other reasons to attack Iraq. The ‘truth’ turned out to be something else entirely.

In life, these scenarios occur again and again, but have not been identified for what they are in

conventional literature. Surprise in a short story or novel depends, in fact, upon principles of 

progression literature, but rarely is it fully developed so that the reader understands that the

possibility of the truth being other than everything learned also exists, and that ‘truth’ itself is

actually a matter of perspective in society.

This state of affairs in current human experience helps explain why I, myself, can be viewed by 

some of my most vociferous critics as “untruthful,” based on what they have learned (or not)

about me, while others (especially if they have met me personally and interviewed me, and seen

my evidence files) conclude that I am a truth-teller (I am!). I have seen altered emails and

falsified statements attributed to me offered on the Internet as “truthful” material about me. one

of the strangest was a proclamation that I disliked my maiden name of “Avary” and changed it to

“Vary” when my book, of course, provides ample proof that my maiden name was Vary and

never was “Avary.” How can people state something as ‘true” without checking the facts for

themselves? It may be difficult to do so: we often rely on “authority”: in my example piece,

“Blessed Ballantyne,” a cold-blooded murderer is declared a potential saint in the Catholic

church: those who know how absurd this designation is nevertheless go along with thedeclaration, since it’s financially or emotionally advantageous to them.

That doesn’t mean Ballantyne was “saintly” material, but who was going to argue with the Pope?

Millions were informed of Ballantyne’s new holy status, based on the “truth” they had accepted.

The reader of the short story series knows the ‘whole truth’ and experiences what I call

‘denouement’—the alternate name of the genre is THE LITERATURE OF DENOUEMENT. But

even the reader is aware hat yet another story could change tings again.

 Any short story or novel could be extended and enriched with a sequel based on progression

Literature dynamics. The “literature of surprise” is can also place a whole series of such

denouement experiences within the confines of a single short story. Different viewpoints can be

contrasted with a central, omniscient one, or from a central, non-omniscient one -- or not.

My first story demonstrating the genre was written in 1971, called “I’m Looking Over…” and

later republished in newspapers as “The Wearing of the Green.” Here’s how this short story 

uses the principles of progression literature, or denouement, as ‘the truth’ is revealed:

1. a man who married ‘money’ realizes his gambling and womanizing has been discovered by his

 wife, and she might divorce him; he feels he’s simply a very unlucky man

8/8/2019 10 Emerging Book Genres

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/10-emerging-book-genres 5/6

2. he finds a four-leaf clover in the front yard of their large mansion, and displays it proudly to

his wife…he also has a good day at the roulette table, and feels his fortunes are changing

3. his wife shows him a four-leaf clover SHE has found, and a competition between the two

 begins…

4. his wife accumulates dozens of four-leaf clovers---he cannot find another one….he even goesout ,ate a night, hunting for one with a flashlight, he gets so exasperated…no luck 

5. the ‘no luck’ syndrome increases…he becomes obsessed that somewhere in the several acres of 

lawn around the big house, he’ll be able to find another four=-leaf clover—but he can’t!!!

6. meanwhile, his wife keeps finding them—and now has a binder full of them

7. with intense hatred, one night he sets the lawn aflame, beginning right at the front porch of 

their mansion, using plenty of gasoline; the mansion catches fire and burns to the ground

8. the only thing saved was the binder full of four-leaf clovers that his wife had with her in the

car—for actually, she and her friends were collecting four-leaf clovers from all over town, just to

pique her philandering husband…insurance takes care of the fire because she had just filed for

divorce…she loses nothing…

9. he never learns the truth about the clover collection ---his version of ‘the truth’ remains

painfully different from reality, and he considers himself the unluckiest man alive…

Back to my own experience with the progression of “truth” as seen by others, in

real-life:

 As for me, I protested that falsehoods were being generated about me, and that I had never

 written, for example, that Lee Oswald had not been circumcised—a matter Sixty Minutes had

asked me about almost immediately a full nine months before the purported email message sent

to the person who later showed this message, in its altered form, to the world.

I can hope that the critic did not personally insert this falsehood into the email but that someone

else did so.

However, people were shown this false assertion, and told I was now changing my story. All I

could say was that Sixty Minutes would not have investigated me for fourteen months (only to

have their filming blocked by higher-ups) if I had told them such a thing about Oswald’s

anatomy, since his autopsy report was out there for the whole world to view, clearly indicating

he was circumcised, and in the hands of their investigators.

8/8/2019 10 Emerging Book Genres

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/10-emerging-book-genres 6/6

The same critic also accused me of simultaneously deeply researching my story, to nsert myself 

into Oswald’s life story, ignoring the plethora of deliberately saved items bespeaking my 

involvement with Oswald in new Orleans in the spring and summer, through to early Fall, of 

1963.

If I had done so much research, why, indeed, would I have stated such an unlikely thing such as

that Oswald, a native of New Orleans, was not circumcised, when such a procedure was routine

and traditional in New Orleans area hospitals? The critic was creating his own version of the

truth and presenting it as an alternative to reality, and some people accepted his version. It’s a

good example, in real life, of what progression literature is all about.

Progression literature as a genre is currently being developed upon the mass of debris of 

postmodern literature. It is my belief that, as the Phoenix, progression literature can rise up and

reinvigorate literature, bringing it again to the fore as a viable and worthy means of expression

of the human condition.

Judyth Vary Baker