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

[krylyr.livejournal.com]

I heard that! They read an excerpt of the title story from "Werewolves in Their Youth" not too long ago on TAL.

JPK, too? Damn. You know, aside from the distance, I probably wouldn't be able to go to ReaderCon because that's right around our anniversary, but since the moved the date next time, I will have to consult the boss.