Genres of Fiction, and Why They Aren’t Discrete Entities
Rachel Swirsky, guestblogging for Jeff VanderMeer, explains a common problem for SF fans and writers: any SF that is also good literature gets reassigned away from the category of SF — leaving only the “bad stuff” as true SF. (On the other hand, this goes both ways: many SF fans won’t touch literary fiction. It’s too “boring.”)
The comments are very instructive as well. (A rarity!) VanderMeer, Swirsky, and author Nick Mamatas all have good things to say.
Jan. 24, 2010 at 7:39pm with 3,429 notes
reblogged from booklover
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Anything you dream is fiction, and anything you accomplish is science, the whole history of mankind is nothing but science fiction.
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Honestly, I think the barriers are imaginary, the walls have already been breached and the key to literature in the early 21st century is one of confluence. There’s not much high and low culture any more: there’s just mingling streams of art and what matters is whether it’s good art or bad art. But then, I come from comics, and miss the days when it was a gutter art-form in which nobody was expected to make art; and think that SF was much more vibrant and relevant before they taught it in universities.
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To this I say, find me anything at all dumbed down about Ursula K. LeGuin. Show me oafishness in Phil K. Dick. Show me how E. Annie Proulx understands human nature better than Ray Bradbury does.
