6 ms·

Not snobby in the slightest. A friend put it best: "George RR Martin is a great storyteller, but he's no great writer"

tgb 11y ago
Hmf, until friend has a Pulitzer, I can't be bothered to read their quote.
Outdoorsman 11y ago
Agreed... Humans loves a narrative... Great storytellers often succeed financially when writers of interpretive fiction--literature--barely scrape by... Each type of author has a place...some readers want entertainment...other readers prefer entertainment coupled with edification... I think the best novels provide both...Harper Lee did just that...
therealdrag0 11y ago
I think it's a bummer that all the popular fantasy is not the best writing. (I do quite enjoy GRRM and Abercrombie.) Are there any, may lesser known, fantasy that is more literary?
- dvt 11y ago
  The canonical examples are J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings) and C.S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia). See Fantasy Classics at Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/318.Fantasy_Classics http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/318.Fantasy_Classics
- runevault 11y ago
  Check out Guy Gavriel Kay. He's go a bit of a poet's background and writes utterly heart wrenching prose. Can start most anywhere with him, but I'd recommend Tigana, Lions of al'Rassan, or Under Heaven as great starting points.
- hullo 11y ago
  Gene Wolfe (Book of the New Sun) is great and a common recommendation along these lines. Ishiguro's The Buried Giant from last year asks to be described as Literary Fiction with a fantasy setting. But chasing down "If you liked Gene Wolfe you might like.." recommendations online would probably be fruitful.
  - username223 11y ago
    I loved "Remains of the Day" and "Never Let Me Go", but didn't finish "The Buried Giant." The first two aren't fantasy, but IMHO they're much better Ishiguro. As for "literature-y" fantasy, I'd agree with others here to look at magical realism, e.g. "One Hundred Years of Solitude." But my opinion is probably crap -- some of my fantasy favorites are Tolkien's "Silmarillion" and "Lost Tales," which probably don't qualify as "great literature," but show some amazingly thorough and vivid world-building.
- drhayes9 11y ago
  I second the Gene Wolf recommendation. Huge fan of China Mieville, but that's closer to "new weird" than "fantasy". Mieville's books are complex and gripping.
  - therealdrag0 11y ago
    Cool. Listening to the Audible clip of "Perdido Street Station". Sounds the nicest of the suggestions so far :)
- mklim 11y ago
  Yeah, this is a common problem in genre fiction unfortunately. The best one I've read is "The Magicians" series by Lev Grossman. The writing is clean, concise, everything is shown and nothing told. The series is a great deconstruction of a lot of classic YA fantasy tropes and has a solid magic system. Can't recommend this series highly enough, both my literary and scifi/fantasy fan friends have all really enjoyed it. I'd also recommend Ishiguro's The Buried Giant, very close to literary fiction. It steps a little outside of the bounds of what we think of as "fantasy", but the magical realism genre has a lot of amazing pieces, and the genre is based around fantastical elements. My favorite example of this is "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel García Márquez. "Invisible Cities" by Italo Calvino is another good one.
  - scott_s 11y ago
    I adore "The Magicians", and have added "The Buried Giant" to my stack based on your recommendation.
- poxrud 11y ago
  Check out Robert E. Howard's Conan short stories. These are very well written and are in public domain.
- toddchambery 11y ago
  It's historical (medieval) fiction, not fantasy, but Hild (http://www.amazon.com/Hild-Novel-Nicola-Griffith/dp/1250056098/ http://www.amazon.com/Hild-Novel-Nicola-Griffith/dp/12500560...) is one of the best written books I've read. edit: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell is up there http://www.amazon.com/Jonathan-Strange-Mr-Norrell-Novel/dp/0765356155/ http://www.amazon.com/Jonathan-Strange-Mr-Norrell-Novel/dp/0... I find J G Keely's judgement aligned to my own: http://starsbeetlesandfools.blogspot.com/2012/06/suggested-readings-in-fantasy.html http://starsbeetlesandfools.blogspot.com/2012/06/suggested-r...
- jon-wood 11y ago
  Pratchett was a genius when it came to knowing just the right phrase to conjure up an image, although reading all the Discworld novels in one go as I am at the moment reveals he's not quite so good at the storytelling side, often dragging on a few chapters too long.
baddox 11y ago
I find it odd that people would think a great story that's written down isn't by definition a great piece of writing.
- davidw 11y ago
  Here's a hint: if it's science fiction or fantasy, it's probably not considered 'great literature'. Having everyone die in the end is bonus points for 'great writing'.
  - nostrademons 11y ago
    Well, GRRM did that one better and had everybody die in the beginning!
    - davidw 11y ago
      Haven't read those. I read about enough deaths in the news, to be honest, to be interested in having too many in my fiction.
      - deleted 11y ago
        [deleted]
  - thekingofspain 11y ago
    I mean, it's only one example, but Lord of the Rings?
    - davidw 11y ago
      Do 'literature snob' kinds of people actually consider that to be good writing?
      - umanwizard 11y ago
        Nope.

tgb 11y ago

Hmf, until friend has a Pulitzer, I can't be bothered to read their quote.

Agreed... Humans loves a narrative... Great storytellers often succeed financially when writers of interpretive fiction--literature--barely scrape by... Each type of author has a place...some readers want entertainment...other readers prefer entertainment coupled with edification... I think the best novels provide both...Harper Lee did just that...

therealdrag0 11y ago

I think it's a bummer that all the popular fantasy is not the best writing. (I do quite enjoy GRRM and Abercrombie.) Are there any, may lesser known, fantasy that is more literary?

dvt 11y ago
The canonical examples are J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings) and C.S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia). See Fantasy Classics at Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/318.Fantasy_Classics http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/318.Fantasy_Classics
runevault 11y ago
Check out Guy Gavriel Kay. He's go a bit of a poet's background and writes utterly heart wrenching prose. Can start most anywhere with him, but I'd recommend Tigana, Lions of al'Rassan, or Under Heaven as great starting points.
hullo 11y ago
Gene Wolfe (Book of the New Sun) is great and a common recommendation along these lines. Ishiguro's The Buried Giant from last year asks to be described as Literary Fiction with a fantasy setting. But chasing down "If you liked Gene Wolfe you might like.." recommendations online would probably be fruitful.
- username223 11y ago
  I loved "Remains of the Day" and "Never Let Me Go", but didn't finish "The Buried Giant." The first two aren't fantasy, but IMHO they're much better Ishiguro. As for "literature-y" fantasy, I'd agree with others here to look at magical realism, e.g. "One Hundred Years of Solitude." But my opinion is probably crap -- some of my fantasy favorites are Tolkien's "Silmarillion" and "Lost Tales," which probably don't qualify as "great literature," but show some amazingly thorough and vivid world-building.
drhayes9 11y ago
I second the Gene Wolf recommendation. Huge fan of China Mieville, but that's closer to "new weird" than "fantasy". Mieville's books are complex and gripping.
- therealdrag0 11y ago
  Cool. Listening to the Audible clip of "Perdido Street Station". Sounds the nicest of the suggestions so far :)
mklim 11y ago
Yeah, this is a common problem in genre fiction unfortunately. The best one I've read is "The Magicians" series by Lev Grossman. The writing is clean, concise, everything is shown and nothing told. The series is a great deconstruction of a lot of classic YA fantasy tropes and has a solid magic system. Can't recommend this series highly enough, both my literary and scifi/fantasy fan friends have all really enjoyed it. I'd also recommend Ishiguro's The Buried Giant, very close to literary fiction. It steps a little outside of the bounds of what we think of as "fantasy", but the magical realism genre has a lot of amazing pieces, and the genre is based around fantastical elements. My favorite example of this is "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel García Márquez. "Invisible Cities" by Italo Calvino is another good one.
- scott_s 11y ago
  I adore "The Magicians", and have added "The Buried Giant" to my stack based on your recommendation.
poxrud 11y ago
Check out Robert E. Howard's Conan short stories. These are very well written and are in public domain.
toddchambery 11y ago
It's historical (medieval) fiction, not fantasy, but Hild (http://www.amazon.com/Hild-Novel-Nicola-Griffith/dp/1250056098/ http://www.amazon.com/Hild-Novel-Nicola-Griffith/dp/12500560...) is one of the best written books I've read. edit: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell is up there http://www.amazon.com/Jonathan-Strange-Mr-Norrell-Novel/dp/0765356155/ http://www.amazon.com/Jonathan-Strange-Mr-Norrell-Novel/dp/0... I find J G Keely's judgement aligned to my own: http://starsbeetlesandfools.blogspot.com/2012/06/suggested-readings-in-fantasy.html http://starsbeetlesandfools.blogspot.com/2012/06/suggested-r...
jon-wood 11y ago
Pratchett was a genius when it came to knowing just the right phrase to conjure up an image, although reading all the Discworld novels in one go as I am at the moment reveals he's not quite so good at the storytelling side, often dragging on a few chapters too long.

baddox 11y ago

I find it odd that people would think a great story that's written down isn't by definition a great piece of writing.

davidw 11y ago
Here's a hint: if it's science fiction or fantasy, it's probably not considered 'great literature'. Having everyone die in the end is bonus points for 'great writing'.
- nostrademons 11y ago
  Well, GRRM did that one better and had everybody die in the beginning!
  - davidw 11y ago
    Haven't read those. I read about enough deaths in the news, to be honest, to be interested in having too many in my fiction.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
- thekingofspain 11y ago
  I mean, it's only one example, but Lord of the Rings?
  - davidw 11y ago
    Do 'literature snob' kinds of people actually consider that to be good writing?
    - umanwizard 11y ago
      Nope.