tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post3448795894318853209..comments2024-02-05T10:41:31.777-05:00Comments on I Saw Lightning Fall: Gilsdorf on Genre DabblingLoren Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-45484665048473548092010-10-07T08:07:51.561-04:002010-10-07T08:07:51.561-04:00Agreed with the vast majority of your points. Howe...Agreed with the vast majority of your points. However ...<br /><br /><i>What is happening is not that fantasy has become more literary, but that purposefully populist fantasy and science-fiction has become more intelligent. </i><br /><br />... while this is true, I think Gilsdorf's point is that the "literary tastemakers" are more likely to look favorably on genre and thus dabble in it. Cronin was firmly in the literary camp before <i>The Passage</i> (which is pure awesome, by the way).Loren Eatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-70593150200691651932010-10-06T10:46:01.668-04:002010-10-06T10:46:01.668-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Chestertonian Ramblerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01550643992523840950noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-21914136323377993172010-10-06T10:45:40.815-04:002010-10-06T10:45:40.815-04:00I think he misses one important point: literary fi...I think he misses one important point: literary fiction now has far less cultural penetration than even pre-Tolkien genre fiction by the likes of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Doc Smith, Robert E. Howard, &c. Even today, more people know who Tarzan (pulp hero of a pre-nerd era) is than Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, the hero of Updike's far more recent literary series.<br /><br />His article also doesn't point out the fact that Lewis, Tolkien and Pullman are far from the most high-lit members of the fantasy genre. From Gene Wolfe to China Mieville, Walter Miller to Neal Stephenson, there have been SF and fantasy authors who take on all the attributes of literary fiction. <br /><br />(Wolfe's Book of the New Sun is designed as a puzzle and metaphysical poem. It starts with a fundamental question of Sausurrian linguistics (can we see reality outside of the categories of our language) and moves through myth and philosophy with an assured complexity that has been compared to Joyce. And of course you can't understand all of Stephenson unless you're well-read in philosophy and advanced mathematics, or all of Mieville unless you understand postmodern Marxist theory.)<br /><br />What is happening is not that fantasy has become more literary, but that purposefully populist fantasy and science-fiction has become more intelligent. Brandon Sanderson may be read no more than Robert E. Howard (and he certainly is no more difficult to read), but the way his characters appear as real members of society with concern for their relatives, cities, and nations makes Conan's shallowly nihilistic individualism seem passe and antiquated. This depth, arguably, springs from Tolkien's passion for consistent worldbuilding, but may be moving fantasy into the territory once held by the Realist Novel--fantasy and science fiction may, in fact, be the new place to go to analyze the serious issues of what happens to humans in societies.<br /><br />Of course, I'm not sure where intentionally stripped-down genres such as crime fiction fits in this narrative. But if people are seeing that popular fantasy can do interesting intellectual work even when (or especially when) it isn't being literary, it would make sense tat similar realizations may center around the crisper, tauter "thriller" genres. Certainly Chandler, though rarely taught in American literature survey classes, has earned a respect for himself and his followers.Chestertonian Ramblerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01550643992523840950noreply@blogger.com