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/lit/ - Literature

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1132815 No.1132815 [Reply] [Original]

Guys. Hey guys, look. It's SPECULATIVE FICTION!!

>> No.1132821

Yeah, and it's great.
Bring on the pigoons

>> No.1132828

>>1132815

I prefer to think of it as "What if 'The Road' had been thought up by a good writer?"
To be honest I'm not a big fan of Atwood but I absolutely loved 'Oryx and Crake'.
I totally wish I was a Craker ;_;

>> No.1132829
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1132829

The notion that Atwood's speculative fiction has any but the most superficial relation to so called 'science fiction' is as preposterous as it is insulting to her significant literary artistry.

>> No.1132833

I really don't think this book should get as much hate as it does.

I read it when I was in 8th grade, but based on my recollection, it was superior to The Road.

>> No.1133040

I love Atwood, but she missed the mark here. The themes and ideas present in her novel have been covered so many times before, but only because a mainstream 'literary' writer has dealt with them do critics pay attention. She can't bear to see her novel called "science fiction", brushing off an entire genre as "books about talking squids in space" or something. It's fantastically pretentious, and her lack of knowledge in respect to the genre shows.

>> No.1133054

Anyone read Year of the Flood (2nd book in this trilogy)?

>> No.1133069

>>1133040
http://www.ursulakleguin.com/MP3s/ChinaMievilleInterviewsUKL-BBC-200904.mp3

Here's a radio documentary about Ursula LeGuin where Atwood says she's still reading sf, including things about "bug eyed monsters." I don't think she really looks down on sf; but she probably has to distance herself from it to keep her status as a "literary" writer.

>> No.1133079

>>1133040
This.

You don't get to write science fiction novels but have them not be considered science fiction on a say-so.

>> No.1133080

>>1132829 pic related

That's snobby bullshit. Scifi=trash is bullshit. 99% of scifi is trash, yes, but so is 99% of everything. Mary Shelley, JGBallard, Russell Hoban, Ursula LeGuin--if it's great lit it's great lit; pretending it's not scifi just because it's good is the worst kind of snobbery.

>> No.1133711

>>1132829
Yeah, her ideas are a bit plebeian to fit into rank and file science fiction. Well, at least hard scifi, where all the real thinking goes on.

>> No.1133749

>>1133069

>she probably has to distance herself from it to keep her status as a "literary" writer.

She doesn't really have to. She should be more confident enough in her own work and her own reknown. Iain M. Banks manages it - yeah, there's a formal separation between the person who writes sci-fi and the person who writes literary fiction, but he talks freely about both in interviews and attends conventions. He is proof that the respect due to literary novelists is not incompatible with science fiction writing, and I do feel like since his example exists anyone who shrinks from the same challenge is just being a bit of a cowardly custard.

>> No.1133774

>>1133054
I read Year of the Flood. I didn't like it as much as Oryx and Crake.

Trilogy? What's the third book?

>> No.1133796

I read it as a teen and more than anything I just liked the story, especially Crake. Intellectual characters are usually presented as narcissistic assholes in other stories (and in real life as well) but there was just something beautiful about the love Crake had for Jimmy. And I'll never forget the part where Jimmy heard Crake screaming in his sleep. The "perfect" Crake!

I make a movie in my head when I read books so maybe that's why I enjoyed this more than the rest of you...its story is fairly interesting, but the emotional and visual beauty of the book make it a masterpiece.

>> No.1133810

>>1133040
I work at a library and I can understand where Atwood is coming from...sorry but the majority of sci-fi IS shit. It's shit just like romance novels are shit, but there are a few great sci-fi gems like Ender's Game and stuff like that.

>> No.1133937
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1133937

>>1133810
>but there are a few great sci-fi gems like Ender's Game
Oh lol, what am I reading!? Out of all the great sf novels written you chose Ender's Game?

>> No.1133954

I knew a guy like Crake. I just found out he's studying Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins now. I wonder if he'll be giving me a job offer in a few years...

>> No.1134719

>>1133810

There's a lot of shit in every genre.

>> No.1134948

Oh my gosh. I fucking loved this book. :3