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ToxicFrog posted:That said, what makes The Name of the Rose "Literature™" rather than "Historical Fiction"? "Literary" is a quality any kind of fiction can have and is separate from genre altogether. There are loads of literary works of historical fiction  I think "genre fiction" as opposed to "literary fiction" is a bit of a misnomer. After all, if you really feel the need to, you can make up a genre for any kind of fiction, literary or otherwise. In other words, prefacing "fiction" with whichever genre does not preclude it from being "literary". Years ago in uni we had a discussion about more or less this subject and I remember my professor pitching the idea that the reason typical genre-fiction genres such as SF/F, romance, whodunnits etc are often not considered literature is that (historically) many such works either are formulaic or offer (relatively) little artistic or intellectual value, and for whatever that's worth, it has kind of stuck with me. What exactly makes literature literary will probably never be settled, though, so in the end, who really gives a poo poo. The point is not whether a work is literary. Everyone's never going to agree on that. The point is whether it's good.Another for what it's worth: if you'd ask me, Brave New World definitely qualifies as literature.
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Jun 1, 2020 20:20
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ToxicFrog posted:This becomes a vicious cycle, though; there's nothing of "artistic or intellectual value" in genre fiction because anything of value² retroactively becomes Serious Literature. Only if you let yourself be fooled that "genre" and "literary y/n" are not on separate axes. Literary quality and the possibility for a work to fit into any one category are not mutually exclusive, despite whatever lazy shorthand some or even most people use to distinguish between good and bad. Plenty of books that fit within a certain genre are considered Serious Literature, but what those books tend to have in common is that they somehow rise above their respective genres by defying its typical characteristics in some way. For instance, you could argue that Brave New World is science fiction, but in many ways it distinguishes itself from other sci-fi works, not the least of which is its incisive cultural criticism. Ultimately, though, there is no way around the fact that there is a lot chaff in genre fiction and the same is obviously the case for works that are less easily categorized, but those aren't typically read simply by virtue of belonging to whatever category they might fit in; I think the scorn towards genre fiction in part stems from that seemingly uncritical tendency of "I just want elves!". As for the rest of your post, if you want I'll respond more elaborately later tonight or tomorrow as I'm working right now, but I'm getting the sense that you're bemoaning a perceived trend that you really don't have to let affect your own conviction. I don't mean for that to come off rude (and I hope it even makes sense, does it?).
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Jun 1, 2020 23:50
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I know we shouldn't be posting about other posters and all that, but yeah, Sham, you've been owning recently, man. Very much enjoyed reading your posts.
Lex Neville fucked around with this message at 15:51 on Jun 2, 2020 |
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Jun 2, 2020 15:48
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I love Pynchon but based on what was discussed earlier I don't think I second the rec
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Jun 5, 2020 07:29
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Other!
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Nov 26, 2020 20:07
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