From a discussion between two of my favorite authors, Margaret Atwood and Ursula K. Le Guin. You can find some of their works listed on my page of books to read.
“Perhaps because of this disagreement, the two writers crept around the issue of science fiction all evening (Le Guin: “it’s just so complicated!”), preferring rather to discuss the motivations and morality of fiction-writing, until an audience member made a comment about their works falling between “literary fiction” and “science fiction.” Le Guin immediately took exception to this confluence of “literary” with “realistic,” arguing that realism is a genre like any other, and that all writing is by definition literary, except that some is better than others. It’s Le Guin’s belief — and Atwood seemed to be in cahoots — that realism is limited in terms of what it can actually discuss. The modern realistic novel, she lamented, has devolved into tales of well-off East Coast people with problems, and this form of novel can’t “bear witness” to anything but that particular condition. Both women were fierce in their conviction, however, that speculative and not-quite-real fictions have more freedom to tackle sweeping subjects unavailable to the realist.”
My feelings exactly.
Related posts:
- Splitting Hairs - genre fiction vs. literary fiction I love the book, Under Heaven, by Guy Gavriel Kay....
- Woody Allen, genre fiction and how a story turns on coincidence. Regardless of his Lolita obsession - see Manhattan with a...
- It occurs to me that science fiction romance might just be… a means for women authors, female lovers of science fiction...
- Food and Fiction…or food for thought…the stickiness of words. Lets talk food first… There’s something to this concept of...
- From Anny Cook - Brilliant! Alpheli Solution When Danamara Higgins is attacked by a vampire,...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.