This is pure hogwash. Literary fiction is just another genre of fiction, not something that stands above other genres. There are serious literary authors who have branched into genre fiction who agree with me. Read over this interview with Michael Chabon [1].
This is like complaining that music from the 80s is so much better than music from today because you've cherry picked a few dozen gems from an entire decade.
No, it's more like complaining that a very small set of music cherry-picked over a very long period of time, from hundreds years of music, is better than the majority of music from today. Which isn't a complaint, it's a straightforward observation. The parent didn't say 'literary fiction' in general.
No it's exactly like complaining that there is no good music being made today because the average new song isn't as good as the best song from the 80s.
My complaint is that in most cases people are comparing average Science Fiction to the best of Classical Literature, but this tells you nothing about the best of Science Fiction.
Sure the average Science Fiction novel isn't as good as the best classical literature. But that's not the implication of the original comment. The implication is that Science Fiction is inferior--it's meant for entertainment, not capable of holding up to serious literature. Science Fiction is merely enjoyable, not sublime.
Literary fiction is just another genre of fiction, not something that stands above other genres.
I'm not even sure it's that. I mean, what "genre" is "non genre" fiction? If "literate" fiction is just "anything with no specific genre" then that isn't saying much. And a lot of the classification of works into the category of "literate fiction" is post-hoc rationalization anyway.
Comments
This is pure hogwash. Literary fiction is just another genre of fiction, not something that stands above other genres. There are serious literary authors who have branched into genre fiction who agree with me. Read over this interview with Michael Chabon [1].
This is like complaining that music from the 80s is so much better than music from today because you've cherry picked a few dozen gems from an entire decade.
[1] http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jul/27/entertainment/ca-cha...
No, it's more like complaining that a very small set of music cherry-picked over a very long period of time, from hundreds years of music, is better than the majority of music from today. Which isn't a complaint, it's a straightforward observation. The parent didn't say 'literary fiction' in general.
No it's exactly like complaining that there is no good music being made today because the average new song isn't as good as the best song from the 80s.
My complaint is that in most cases people are comparing average Science Fiction to the best of Classical Literature, but this tells you nothing about the best of Science Fiction.
Sure the average Science Fiction novel isn't as good as the best classical literature. But that's not the implication of the original comment. The implication is that Science Fiction is inferior--it's meant for entertainment, not capable of holding up to serious literature. Science Fiction is merely enjoyable, not sublime.
Literary fiction is just another genre of fiction, not something that stands above other genres.
I'm not even sure it's that. I mean, what "genre" is "non genre" fiction? If "literate" fiction is just "anything with no specific genre" then that isn't saying much. And a lot of the classification of works into the category of "literate fiction" is post-hoc rationalization anyway.