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

[prusik.livejournal.com]

I agree that it's silly. (I also agree drumiller that his characterization takes it a bit far.) However, the situation is that there really is a faction who want to consign genre to the ghetto, unless it's a good book. In that case, they want to claim the book for their own. (If nothing else, it allows them to maintain the pretense that 'genre fiction' is 'bad fiction' since they've claimed all the good books.)

I have no idea how to convince people that the CrossOverTitle they like so much is absolutely reeking with genre cooties, and that reeking with genre cooties is perfectly fine. I mean, if nothing else, realizing this would let them find more books they might like.

I wonder, sometimes, if the advent of online bookstores (which have no bookshelves) and computer generated recommendations based on customer buying habits will cause more crossover. I mean, if you're someone who "doesn't read" genre, but pays attention to Amazon recommendations and it keeps recommending strong, character-driven genre fiction to you... (Of course, this doesn't work for short fiction...)