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"I <span class="ft">never understood any kind of border patrol when
it comes to music.”</span> <br>
~ Bob Dylan<br>
<br>
On 2/7/2011 11:42 AM, Son of Witz wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:F0249EC5-DED5-4AF3-A003-622539BBA052@butcherbaker.org"
type="cite">
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="">I'm definitely with
Lane on this.</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="">It's the same with
musical sub-genres. Just play good music, I don't care how you
need to categorize it for the marketplace.</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="">These preceived
categories indicate nothing about the intrinsic quality of the
work.</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="">I'm reading a James
Ellroy "Crime Novel" right now. Bah! The thing scorches!</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><br>
</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="">~witz</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=""><br>
</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="">On Feb 6, 2011, at
6:44 PM, Lane Haygood <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:lhaygood@gmail.com">lhaygood@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:</span><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div>SF to me has no significant differences from "literary"
fiction. Sure, there are stylistic conventions and structural
differences, but those are there in the difference between a
frame story and first-person narrative, for example. Each
"genre," so to speak, may contain different story structures,
literary techniques, etc. And plenty of genre fiction is
uninteresting schlock... but so is your average perusal of the
literary fiction section. Good writers are good writers are
good writers, no matter what they write.
<div>
<br>
</div>
<div>And I'm reminded of the Wolfe quote that what we call
"sf" is what was once called "literature." For instance, if
Homer were to write "The Odyssey" today, it would be called
epic quest fantasy. The same for the Kalevala or the Eddas,
which were Tolkien's primary influences. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>And yeah, it is unjust that sf, for entirely political
reasons, gets short shrift from prize committees and critics
and other image conscious types. On the other hand, their
approval of what I read was never requested, nor is it
important to me, although I will continue to tell anyone who
will listen that there are truly wonderful writers working
in sf (Wolfe, Le Guin, Bakker, Lynch, etc.).</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>LH<br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Feb 6, 2011 at 7:04 PM,
Marc Aramini <span dir="ltr"><<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:marcaramini@yahoo.com">marcaramini@yahoo.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt
0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);
padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>
<br>
--- On Sun, 2/6/11, Lane Haygood <<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:lhaygood@gmail.com">lhaygood@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
<br>
> From: Lane Haygood <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:lhaygood@gmail.com">lhaygood@gmail.com</a>><br>
> Subject: Re: (urth) grumble at wolfe comment made
attached to guardian article<br>
> To: "The Urth Mailing List" <<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:urth@lists.urth.net">urth@lists.urth.net</a>><br>
> Date: Sunday, February 6, 2011, 4:38 PM<br>
<div class="im">> Literary fiction is entitled to its<br>
> pretensions. That is, after all, what
distinguishes one made<br>
> up story from another sufficient to call it
"literary."<br>
><br>
><br>
<br>
</div>
I guess. But then you know there are these grants and
stuff, like Vollman getting 50,000 tax free for five
years, for, as you said, creating a made up story. Just
reeks of ... injustice? I don't know. But those
pretentions are so ... repetitive and boring? The best
SF is sometimes pretentious in novel and interesting
ways.<br>
<div>
<div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
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