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minkhollow...Okay, I have a ranty thing.
TO: Academia
FROM: a writer and reader
RE: Fiction
So. I understand you've got this conceit about 'literary' fiction being something other - and in fact better - than 'genre' fiction. And I think I can even pinpoint where you got the idea. However, there's something I'd like to clear up for you:
1) ALL FICTION IS LITERATURE.
2) NO PIECE OF FICTION IS WITHOUT A GENRE.
Now. I think you got this idea from the 'tropes' that some genres (fantasy, sci-fi, horror, etc.) have accumulated over the years. But these 'tropes' are little more than early ideas that have become cliched through the constant lather-rinse-repeat work of mediocre writers. Any genre has its tropes (do Bodice Rippers, The Butler Did It, and Untrustworthy Second-In-Command sound familiar?), and a good writer in any genre knows how to avoid or reinvent the tropes.
I can pass Good Omens off as a political thriller, or Still Life With Woodpecker (which is, indeed, shelved as 'literary' fiction) as a romance novel. But the fact remains that each of those works has a genre - as do all others. Where the hell els would the plot come from?
Honestly. This is something you could actually learn from five minutes on fanfiction.net - not that I recommend the place for much else. Every piece of writing has a genre (or more than one, occasionally) listed, so that browsers know whether it's the type of story they'd like to read.
So. One more time:
1) ALL FICTION IS LITERATURE.
2) NO PIECE OF FICTION IS WITHOUT A GENRE.
Got it? Good.
TO: Academia
FROM: a writer and reader
RE: Fiction
So. I understand you've got this conceit about 'literary' fiction being something other - and in fact better - than 'genre' fiction. And I think I can even pinpoint where you got the idea. However, there's something I'd like to clear up for you:
1) ALL FICTION IS LITERATURE.
2) NO PIECE OF FICTION IS WITHOUT A GENRE.
Now. I think you got this idea from the 'tropes' that some genres (fantasy, sci-fi, horror, etc.) have accumulated over the years. But these 'tropes' are little more than early ideas that have become cliched through the constant lather-rinse-repeat work of mediocre writers. Any genre has its tropes (do Bodice Rippers, The Butler Did It, and Untrustworthy Second-In-Command sound familiar?), and a good writer in any genre knows how to avoid or reinvent the tropes.
I can pass Good Omens off as a political thriller, or Still Life With Woodpecker (which is, indeed, shelved as 'literary' fiction) as a romance novel. But the fact remains that each of those works has a genre - as do all others. Where the hell els would the plot come from?
Honestly. This is something you could actually learn from five minutes on fanfiction.net - not that I recommend the place for much else. Every piece of writing has a genre (or more than one, occasionally) listed, so that browsers know whether it's the type of story they'd like to read.
So. One more time:
1) ALL FICTION IS LITERATURE.
2) NO PIECE OF FICTION IS WITHOUT A GENRE.
Got it? Good.