GenreWatching

[coalescent]

Atwood- and genre-related quotes of the day, from TIME:

Literary fiction is all about nuance. Science fiction is an open invitation to moralizing. In a genre that lets you create your own world, who can resist the temptation merely to blow it all up while shaking a head at what fools these mortals be? Not Atwood. What's missing here is the emotional sinew of Cat's Eye, the complex mortifications of Alias Grace.

And from the New York Times:

I am going to stick my neck out and just say it: science fiction will never be Literature with a capital 'L,' and this is because it inevitably proceeds from premise rather than character. It sacrifices moral and psychological nuance in favor of more conceptual matters, and elevates scenario over sensibility. Some will ask, of course, whether there still is such a thing as 'Literature with a capital 'L.'' I proceed on the faith that there is. Are there exceptions to my categorical pronouncement? Probably, but I don't think enough of them to overturn it.

Is Margaret Atwood's new novel, Oryx and Crake, science fiction? Insofar as the term has any practical meaning, yes.

Yes, the implied assumption in the second of those is that 'psychological nuance' is inherently superior to, and more worthy of exploration than mere 'conceptual matters'. Forget objectivity; subjectivity is what counts. Sheesh.

Comments

[snowking.livejournal.com]

So some people, and this is putting in nicely, are just ill-mannered twats? Thought so.

[immortalradical.livejournal.com]

The New York Times' critic is no doubt the kind of person who would dismiss '1984' as non-literary, regardless of the fact that it has had a wider influence than the works of Woolf and Joyce put together. Pah to that, I say.

Observation

[applez.livejournal.com]

You know, I'm consistently surprised by the snobbery in the literary world ... which probably goes a long way to show how less wordly and clever I think I am. :-)

I dunno, it just seems to me very silly to spend so much time arguing over classification of some work when the best works often bridge genres (or create their own), or when a classification like 'sci-fi' is so broad meaning everything to everyone.

Example: OUSFG may rubbish Michael Crichton, and I have certainly learned the poverty of his writing, but I will give him his due, good or ill. His works may not be my 'sci-fi,' but he is for a lot of people.

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

Is Margaret Atwood's new novel, Oryx and Crake, science fiction? Insofar as the term has any practical meaning, yes.

This morning on Radio 4's 'Today' Margaret Atwood told Sarah Montague that Oryx And Crake is not science fiction but speculative fiction. Ah, that old chestnut...

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

This is what I get for watching the season finale of 24 instead of listen to the radio.

/me goes to check out the R4 website.