4 ms·
Honestly, I don't see this as a problem any more. Litfic is as much a genre as SF, and just as an SF novel isn't going to win the Booker, a litfic novel isn't g
by mrec 5y ago
Honestly, I don't see this as a problem any more. Litfic is as much a genre as SF, and just as an SF novel isn't going to win the Booker, a litfic novel isn't going to win the Hugo or Nebula. Yes, the Booker judges believe that their preferred genre is intrinsically superior to all the others, but nobody else needs to pay any attention to them if they don't want to.
Twenty or thirty years ago it was different, because the channels for discovery and discussion were so impoverished for anything remotely niche, but that hasn't been the case for a while now.
- pmoriarty 5y agoThat's true, but the converse is that it's easy for many of the people buying their velvet Jesus' and Thomas Kinkade paintings to ignore the Van Gogh's and Picassos (well, ok, these are hard to miss, but insert your favorite "serious", "great" painters here). And fans of whatever the scifi equivalent is of the trashiest of romance novels might never get to seriously give Ursula Le Guin a chance. I think that's a pity. People are getting balkanized and locked in to their favorite echo chambers. In one sense its good, because you're not getting your tastes and preferences dictated to from the ivory tower by some gatekeeper elites, but on the other hand I think a lot of people are missing out on discovering some amazing art, music, and literature because they're so enclosed in their little bubble from which many never dare to or even think of escaping.