Chris, yours is a well considered response. I have no doubt "Lord of the Rings" is about to pass over into the canon of literature that lives. I would include Octavia E. Butler and Samuel E. Delany as serious writers. Chester Himes and Walter Mosley do not reach the bar, as far as I am concerned, although, taken as a whole, Mosley's Easy Rawlins saga, in its entirety, approaches the heights reached by August Wilson in his 10-cycle play about black America. I happen to believe Richard Wright is overrated, but that is personal nit.
~rave! --- In SciFiNoir_Lit@yahoogroups.com, "Chris Hayden" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > (Serious as you and me define it is irrelevant. > > Let's cut to the chase here--most genre fiction is written to the > lowest common denominator--for people who scan rather than read. It > is like this because it is descended from that fiction that appeared > in the pulps--which, according to many publishers and editors, had to > reach "14 year old cretins in Kansas City" > > It has never completely outgrown this. > > Serious literature is what is called literary fiction and is > > Often, but not always, written by academics. > It contains learned cultural references > The style is dense, or non standard or both and often requires re > reading and deep perusal and is concerned with realistic and > philsophical themes. > Generally it is literature that has been around a long time and has > stood the test of time. > > The Iliad would make it. Beowulf would make it. Gilgamesh would > make it. Poe makes it. > > Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings don't make it. > > Dracula makes it barely on some lists primarily because it has been > around, oft adapted and has deep psychological subtexts. > > > Edward Jones, John Edgar Wideman, Toni Morrison, some Walter Moseley, > Junot Diaz (whose latest work contains many SF references)--writers > whose work is published in literary journals like Calaloo. Writers > that are so anointed by the literary crowd or Michiko Kakutani, the > literary proctologist. > > I write SF--one of my complaints with it is that I usually have to > write down when I do it and people who like my serious work don't > care for it. > > A series of short pieces I wrote about the sickness and death of my > mother have been praised by some of the literary folk. A series of > short pieces I wrote aout 21st century digital gangstas doesn't. > > Come on, now. The same thing goes on in genre fiction--all those > Star Wars books is not SF and Phillip K. Dick is. > > --- In SciFiNoir_Lit@yahoogroups.com, "sancochojo" <mccartjf@> > wrote: > > > > We are talking about living authors...I know some you listed are > alive > > but I'm talking present authors that will have the ability to gain > new > > readers and not from old great works. > > > > I'm not also speaking of serious as you define but a vast variety of > > Genres. That is what is lacking in my opinion. Thats where you get > > the new creative and free thinkers by stepping out of those > boundaries . > > > > > > > > > > >
