This is a problem. We've seen recent books that are clearly in the SF/F genre that literary critics either ignore or brush aside so as not to diminish the book.
I'm confused. Do you mean that the literary critics are simply ignoring the SF/F elements of a book when they review it, because to mention them would somehow diminish the book?
If a book is greeted by literary critics as transcending the genre I would hope a book store would have a knowledgeable enough staff to also stock a few copies of the book in the proper genre section.
Unfortunately, the move to big box book stores has meant that many, if not most, of the staff are not knowledgeable about books. The books are usually filed wherever the publisher indicates they should be. Alternatively, you may find that the books of authors who publish in multiple marketing categories will all be filed in one section, so that they are all together, instead of each being in the appropriate area. If they had enough books to file in both areas, I wouldn't mind so much, but that's rarely the case. I don't know as much about how things are filed in the library, but at least there you can go online and find books based on multiple categories.
What I don't get is the writer who writes a genre book and then goes along with literary circles who intentionally ignore the genre label.
I think, often, these writers are academics, as well as writers, and make their choices based on what they think will be best for their academic standing within those literary circles.
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regna
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-21 08:34 am (UTC)I'm confused. Do you mean that the literary critics are simply ignoring the SF/F elements of a book when they review it, because to mention them would somehow diminish the book?
If a book is greeted by literary critics as transcending the genre I would hope a book store would have a knowledgeable enough staff to also stock a few copies of the book in the proper genre section.
Unfortunately, the move to big box book stores has meant that many, if not most, of the staff are not knowledgeable about books. The books are usually filed wherever the publisher indicates they should be. Alternatively, you may find that the books of authors who publish in multiple marketing categories will all be filed in one section, so that they are all together, instead of each being in the appropriate area. If they had enough books to file in both areas, I wouldn't mind so much, but that's rarely the case. I don't know as much about how things are filed in the library, but at least there you can go online and find books based on multiple categories.
What I don't get is the writer who writes a genre book and then goes along with literary circles who intentionally ignore the genre label.
I think, often, these writers are academics, as well as writers, and make their choices based on what they think will be best for their academic standing within those literary circles.