Are New Age Novels Serious Literature?
Should New Age novels be treated as serious works of literature? “The Weight Of Light”, a spiritual and literary novel by English author Andrew Staniland, raises this question again.
(PRWEB) August 11, 2005 -- Should New Age novels be treated as serious works
of literature? “The Weight Of Light,” a spiritual and literary novel by English
author Andrew Staniland, raises this question again.
“New Age” is
possibly misleading. The catch-all phrase is “Mind, Body, Spirit.” And in the
online bookstores, the sub-category in Fiction is “Visionary &
Metaphysical”. However we label them, though, even the most successful spiritual
novels, such as Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist” or James Redfield’s “The
Celestine Prophecy,” are not regarded as serious literary fiction. Their writing
style is genre fiction. Their message is more important than their
medium.
“The Weight Of Light” describes the spiritual practice and
spiritual experiences of Delphine, a Frenchwoman living in London. Its style is
highly literary, almost a prose-poem. As the author says, “I have been writing
for over 20 years and I write a lot of poetry, so the language is very important
to me. Also, I’m not a teacher. My book isn’t promoting a particular teaching.
It’s simply an honest description of a contemporary spiritual life.”
In
fact, there is a great tradition of spiritual fiction in Western literature.
Whether we think of Hermann Hesse’s “Siddhartha,” Blake’s prophetic books, the
Romantic poetry of Shelley and Yeats, Goethe’s “Faust” or Dante’s “Divine
Comedy,” no one would confine them to a non-serious sub-category. The question
is which contemporary writers will join them?
“The Weight Of Light”
is available at online and other bookstores.
The author’s website is www.andrewstaniland.co.uk.
Contact:
Andrew
Staniland
00-44-20-7704-1036
e-mail protected from spam bots
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/8/prweb270909.htm