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/lit/ - Literature

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13327744 No.13327744 [Reply] [Original]

Anybody else feel like it's not fair to class science fiction with the rest of the genre fiction out there? Sci-fi has always addressed a lot of the same themes literary fiction does, just using allegory and metaphor in a way that builds off the insecurities and scenarios of modern, industrial society. I feel like the best of sci-fi, whether hard or soft, can fairly be classified as "important" literature, which you really can't say for Westerns or Fantasy or Mysteries.

>> No.13327758

Nah

>> No.13327805

all fiction is bullshit

>> No.13327823

Why is genre fiction a slur

>> No.13327828

>>13327823
some people take literary fiction as this really serious artistic endeavor while genre fiction is just entertainment

>> No.13327891
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13327891

>>13327805

>> No.13329171

>>13327744
Other genre fiction does as well, though. Fantasy, epic poetry, even some of the little mystery I've read have touched on greatness and the themes of literary writing.
>>13327828
It's a stupid take on it, deciphering intent like that isn't widely applicable. The perceived gulf also means literary fiction is taken less seriously for using genre conventions and that genre fiction is held to lower standards.

>> No.13330294

>>13327823

The soft bigotry of low expectations carried forward from the days of rapine pulp novels that should have ended in the days of Ellison and Heinlein but carried through to the modern day. Nowadays I personally see it used more by overly defensive types who want to clarify that THEIR sci-fi/fantasy novel has an actual social message unlike the unwashed masses of SF&F.

>> No.13330305

>>13327744
honestly who gives a shit? just judge the books by their merits and determine whether they're good or bad

>> No.13330355
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13330355

>>13327744
back in your hole!

>> No.13330369
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13330369

>>13327805
In your fictional world, and it is *almost* self-defeating. Almost, as in, you can and will forever remain in your bullshit world.

>> No.13332063

>>13327744
Blood meridian is western and it's great. Only brainlets think that genre fiction inherently means low quality

>> No.13332084

>>13330305
>>13332063
based

>> No.13332726

>>13327744
Yes it is fair. Because those initiated in the genre expect people to critique sf novels by a different standard than real literature. They get butthurt when people say it doesn't measure up to literary standards.