My piece on realism is referenced, rather dismissively, by J. W. Cormack in a question he puts to the excellent Jason Schwartz. Is it really contentious to claim that most people’s idea of a traditional novel — a “proper” novel — is (alas) one which can be loosely defined as “realist”?

J. W. Cormack, “Jason Schwartz,” BOMB 7 January 2014

Speaking of category, I read a fairly de rigueur article from The Guardian, one of those “end of fiction” pieces you see every few years — although this one seemed to be equating “traditional fiction” with “the realist novel.” Is this a mistake? Do you feel like the world needs a different fictive vocabulary than the purely representational one we’ve become accustomed to?