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I've always loved fantasy literature. I've grown to see it as a kind of hack genre – it can discuss social issues which readers might find boring or even repell
by unalone 15y ago
I've always loved fantasy literature. I've grown to see it as a kind of hack genre – it can discuss social issues which readers might find boring or even repellent by creating a world so fantastic that the story's tempting anyway. Lazier readers (myself included) who aren't so interested in realism can pick up a book for the cover or the story or the world and walk away with a lot of thoughts about a lot of things. There's truly a magic to fantasy writing.
Sad that slowly the writers I loved as a kid are dying. Last year was Diana Wynne Jones, who wasn't as popular as McCaffrey but whom I always loved the most. Now this. I couldn't often get into McCaffrey's style but she influenced many of the authors I loved, to the point where I can't think of dragons without thinking of her.
I hope that her life was joyful and her passing was peaceful.
- jonnathanson 15y ago"I've grown to see it as a kind of hack genre..." Be careful with the word "hack" in this case, though; it means something very different in the literary world than it does in the tech world! :) But I agree with you. Generally speaking, the best fantasy and sci-fi writing can raise and tackle real-world issues in very bold ways -- ways that, in almost any other genre, would be considered too ballsy, or too crazy, or too preachy to address.
- sampsonjs 15y agoIndeed, it actually is widely viewed as a genre for 'hacks', so much so that I assumed he was using the old, non-stupid connotation of the word. See: last Sunday's episode of the Simpsons, which mercilessly mocked Harry Potter and its imitators. That being said, I enjoyed McCaffrey back in the day.
- sliverstorm 15y agoYeah, I was quite confused by his comment for a few minutes, what with calling it a hack genre and praising it, all in the same comment!
- unalone 15y agoHeh, I was hoping Hacker News would get it. Didn't want to add a cluttery disclaimer.
- kemayo 15y agoDamn, somehow I missed hearing about Diana Wynne Jones. Sad few years.
- sliverstorm 15y agoWow, thank you for mentioning Diana. I read some of her books a long time ago, and they are on a very short list of books that have stuck in the back of my mind. I just couldn't remember the author or the titles, until now.
- wisty 15y agoEvery genre is a hack genre. Thrillers, Romances, Fantasy, Sci Fi, Detective, Chic Lit; you name it. The exceptions are the genres so unpopular that it's not economic for the hacks to get into (such as Poetry, or Magical Realism, or Travel Writing), and then you simply get the wannabes instead. Like Mozart, she created a lot of works that she and her fans really loved.
- unalone 15y ago"Hack" as in "Hacker" rather than in "that writer is such a hack". Sorry for the ambiguity. :-) Although speaking as a poet, poetry is absolutely a hack genre, and so's magical realism and travel writing. Poetry: uses line breaks to create tension within individual sentences using enjambment, creates a visual structure that helps guide the reader from line to line, stanza to stanza. Magical realism: similar to surrealism in that it breaks the confines of reality to make a deeper, "truer" statement. Travel writing: literally hacks the world by creating a map of information (if you meant travel guides) and emotion (if you meant travel literature) which connects with the world around it. A way of bringing people to the rest of the world without the cost of gas/plane tickets/a horse/oxen.