When Art and Literature are Cut From the Same Cloth

I’ve been fascinated by Top 10, Top 40, Top 100 etc. lists since childhood, going back to local rock radio stations and their Top 40 lists, and the singles and album charts of Billboard and the late Cashbox.  The Guardian has a great series of Top 10 lists – all of which are on its website – in which various authors contribute annotated lists usually, but not exclusively, about books. Particularly good is Ian MacKenzie’s top 10 artworks in novels, the June 2 entry by novelist MacKenzie, author of City of Strangers. It makes for a concise, informative and insight-packed read. Despite the title, in his intro MacKenzie declares that he is presenting “10 of the most memorable” books in which fiction and art combine. In these books, from such varied authors as Geoff Dyer, V.S. Naipul, Tatyana Tolstaya, Henry James and John Updike; art is integral in some way, either artwork itself, its creator or even in the place in which it is displayed. In the latter instance, see particularly the entry on Updike, and the quote of the latter’s somewhat creepy description of the spiraling Guggenheim Museum in New York. Mackenzie writes eloquently and even passionately; as he drawing us, in a short space of time and attention, into two intertwined worlds. In this case, the art was created independently of the literature, and yet the latter can shine new meaning and significance on the artworks that their creators might not have considered. You may think and read differently next time you encounter the world of art in fiction, and may also consider things differently the next time you are in an art museum. Some may come to think of these spaces, as he does, “as a kind of secret writer’s retreat.”