Friday, January 02, 2009

Didactic Fiction

What's didactic fiction?
Didactic fiction is fiction with a message. It is fiction that tries to do more than entertain the reader. It is meant to share a message. The primary objective is to teach something and storytelling is the method chosen to convey that message.

Didactic fiction I have read (so far)
  • Jack's Notebook: A Business Novel about Creative Problem Solving, by Gregg Fraley

  • Celestine Prophecy, by James Redfield

  • The Goal, by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Jeff Cox

  • The Deadline: A Novel about Project Management, by Tom DeMarco

  • Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life, by Spencer Johnson

  • The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, by Patrick Lencioni
This turned out to be an interesting mix of didactic topics and writing approaches. I now need to read Steve Denning's Squirrel Inc: A Fable of Leadership Through Storytelling.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for mentioning my book Barbara. I've never heard the term Didactic Fiction, but it works. It's true most of the stories you mention have a teaching point. I'd add that many classic works of fiction also have a teaching point, albeit a more conceptual/moral one.

Have a great 2009!