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 Coelhos The Alchemist" or James Redfields 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, Im not a teacher. My book isnt promoting a particular teaching. Its 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 Hesses Siddhartha," Blakes prophetic books, the Romantic poetry of Shelley and Yeats, Goethes Faust" or Dantes 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 authors website is www.andrewstaniland.co.uk.

Contact:

Andrew Staniland

00-44-20-7704-1036

info@andrewstaniland.co.uk

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