Genre Lit Fic

[prusik]

avocadovpx had an interesting entry about Not Science Fiction. There's a favorable review in today's Washington Post of Soon I Will Be Invincible. The review says that it "takes the genre of the superheroic into the realm of literary fiction, where navel-gazing is an established art form." The review also references Michael Chabon and Jonathan Letham. So, my question is that is this Science Fiction, or is it Not Science Fiction?

Clearly, it's being marketed as Not Science Fiction. But review makes it sound like the more the book explores genre, the more literary it is. I'm left with this weird conclusion that exploring genre "within its traditional limits" is literary. Well, if the review insists. (But this makes me wonder is there any writing within genre then that isn't also literary?)

I feel like instead of categorizing books, we ought to be tagging them instead. If someone thinks of a book as literary fiction, that shouldn't mean it can't also be genre fiction at the same time. And the review shouldn't give the impression that this is taking something from the realm of children and making it appropriate for adults. *sigh*

Comments

[garunya.livejournal.com]

Tagging would clearly be the best option. Which is fine for online categorisation, but as long as physical bookshops are still around, they're not going to want to put a copy in every section the book has a tag for.

Still, it would be a step in the right direction.

[drumiller.livejournal.com]

how about whatever's got the highest number of tags gets the most books. if you have 10, 6 of them put it in lit fic, 4 get put in sf. or if people are looking for a particular book that "crosses genres" , maybe have a placeholder object that says "looking for CrossOverTitle? Try Lit Fic"

of course that is what good book sellers should be able to do anyways, but most bookstores they're too busy making frappachinos to give you hints on a good book.