When did books written in the present tense start to appear?

[raccoon]

For instance,

"Sue goes to the door to let her dog out. She sees the man next door gawking at her."

What do you think of books written like this?

IMHO I much prefer the past tense.

[nxylas]

1. Dunno, but I can tell you the first one I saw

It was the novelization of Ghostbusters, back in the 80's. At the time, I thought "did they just take the movie's treatment and release it as a novel"?

[HereSince1628]

2. Is that part of what's known as stream of conciousness?

Cuz if it is, I think SOC has been around for a long time.

[raccoon]

4. I think it’s historical present rather than stream of consciousness,

Apparently it’s been around for a good while, since Dickens used it, at least on this one occasion, possibly more.


"In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a literary technique which seeks to portray an individual's point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character's thought processes, either in a loose internal interior monologue, or in connection to his or her sensory reactions to external occurrences. Stream-of-consciousness writing is strongly associated with the modernist movement. Its introduction in the literary context, transferred from psychology, is attributed to May Sinclair."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stream_of_consciousness_writing


"In linguistics and rhetoric, the historical present refers to the employment of the present tense when narrating past events. It is used in narrative to make the events narrated vivid, or to contrast some particular events with others. Sometimes, though, it can make the narrative boring, if not used properly. Historians are known to often use this style.
Following is an excerpt from Dicken's David Copperfield, in which we can see the shift form the past tense to the historical present:"


“ If the funeral had been yesterday, I could not recollect it better. The very air of the best parlour, when I went in at the door, the bright condition of the fire, the shining of the wine in the decanters, the patterns of the glasses and plates, the faint sweet smell of cake, the odour of Miss Murdstone’s dress, and our black clothes. Mr. Chillip is in the room, and comes to speak to me.
'And how is Master David?' he says, kindly.
I cannot tell him very well. I give him my hand, which he holds in his. (Chapter IX)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_present

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. On a guess, I'd say 1920s, when there was a lot of experimenting

with styles going on. It is an extremely difficult style to do well - seen more often in short stories. But I really don't know.

[pitohui]

7. i've seen a lot of it in stories dated 1920 thru the 1960s

i don't think it is a difficult style to do well, i think it is often THE perfect style for a short story to convey immediacy, and thus it was quite often used in the so-called "pulp" era

today if we want immediacy we watch teevee rather than reading short stories, which have become a thing of the past, so maybe it startles people more to meet present tense in writing rather than in a visual media

but it sure ain't new

[CrispyQ]

5. I didn't realize this was a trend.

I doubt I'd read a book written like that.

Have you noticed in speech, how the less active voice has become more common? "I am needing to call the office," vs "I need to call the office."

I am hearing this everywhere, nowadays. ;)

[MonkeyFunk]

6. I just finished 1000 Splendid Suns last night...

and in the last section of the book, he switches to that tense, and it bugged the heck outta me.

[Wheezy]

8. A wonderful new release, "Lottery" by Patricia Wood

I just finished this book and loved it. It was written in present tense and I didn't even realize it until a third of the way through.

Check it out! I LOVED this book. It's like Forrest Gump wins the lottery. Told from the first person perspective of main character Perry L. Crandall (the L. stands for Lucky, he says), whose IQ is 76.
Check it out here.

[Orrex]

9. I have never read such a work...

that didn't seem trite and gimmicky. I doubt that I could withstand an entire novel told in present tense, and even a short story is pushing it.

[pitohui]

10. either you are not widely read or when it's skillfully done you don't notice

if you're not widely read then you are not the audience that writers should be aiming for anyway -- for those people we have teevee

if you don't notice when it's well done, it isn't a problem


there is too little experimentation that goes on nowadays, compared to the mid 20th century, to crap on what little does appear

[Orrex]

11. Yikes! Easy there, fireball!

Why the personal attack? Did I piss on your pet style?

If you like present tense narrative, then that's super.

there is too little experimentation that goes on nowadays, compared to the mid 20th century, to crap on what little does appear

By the same token, there's too much trite and gimmicky crap nowadays to ennoble it as experimentation. Crap is crap.

[NYC]

12. I never read a book in present tense.

I usually read non-fiction, though.