(no subject)

[tinyjo]

I've just finished reading Set This House In Order by Matt Ruff. It's an excellent book in my opinion; a fascinating idea well executed and beautifully written. I just don't understand why it's up for the ousfg award. I couldn't see any genre elements at all - it's outstanding, yes, but it's mainstream fiction.

The other thing I found rather interesting was what I assume is a new idea by publishers to give books a bit of extra interest. At the end was a small section entitled "P.S.", which had an interview with the author, a summary of some of the critical reaction and a short article summarizing some of the position of MPD in the psychiatric world today plus a couple of other bits I didn't read. It was interesting, but it was mostly a little light for my taste - I would have preferred particularly the critical section to be a proper critical essay rather than just a summary of gushing comments. Still, I wonder if it's something we'll be seeing more of.

Comments

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. I don't see the genre primarily or indeed at all really in terms of people. It's a collection of books with similar devices, exploring areas and themes and telling stories using similar methodologies.

That's what I would call the style. Or possibly the mode. Because the thing is, there are two types of writers who write sf--those who consciously come out of the traditions of sf, and those who do not. The former are the genre, the latter are not. That doesn't mean that everything a genre write writes is sf--see again Gibson--as you say, books are treated on a case-by-case basis.

This is distinct from the concept of genre as a marketing category, and should in fact possibly be described using another word altogether ...