tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post7196116983568378362..comments2024-03-20T19:40:58.078-05:00Comments on The OF Blog: How readily can you discern a literary "genre" from samples?Larry Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16001420558511460998noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-7898735705476630262012-10-25T14:20:58.616-05:002012-10-25T14:20:58.616-05:00This was a great post and I shamelessly copied the...This was a great post and I shamelessly copied the idea though with straighter sff titles so to speak, but with lines that made me pick up the books in cause in quite a few times - the non-sff is very international (3 Fr, 2 Jpn, 1 Ger, 1 US and the one match with here)<br /><br />The duBois book is one I looked at as the Russian and chess angles intrigued me, while the Heller book immediately jumped as post-apocalytpic to me for the simple reason that I read again a few pages from a NR earc and decided to add it to my "to read" pile, though I did not make the connection until you named the title<br /><br />I also read a little from Jagganath somewhere related to the Weird anthology but it seems it did not stick to my mind as even when you named it, it did not click so to speak...<br />Liviuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04615405766065227026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-56012203569590625132012-10-25T09:25:18.526-05:002012-10-25T09:25:18.526-05:00Since I'm going to be mostly offline for the n...Since I'm going to be mostly offline for the next few hours, I'm going to go ahead and list here the titles/authors and perhaps give a few statements on them:<br /><br />1. Jennifer duBois, <i>A Partial History of Lost Causes</i>. Debut novel. Author cites Nabokov as one of her literary influences. Perhaps the closest "literary" title of the ten.<br /><br />2. Karin Tidbeck, <i>Jagannath: Stories</i>. Just published by Cheeky Frawg. Short story collection translated (with at least one originally written in English) from Swedish. Closer to weird fiction than anything else, but there is some crossover into other literary genres.<br /><br />3. Peter Heller, <i>The Dog Stars</i>. Debut novel (but not his first book; he's written several non-fictions). Marketed as post-apocalyptic. Author stated that several poets (he's also a poet) and Borges, among others, have been literary influences.<br /><br />4. Tupelo Hassman, <i>Girlchild</i>. Debut novel. Story is told by a young protagonist, yet is not "YA" in its language, although some of its themes can be seen as such (dealing with the trauma darkly hinted at in the quoted passage, growing up in a "trailer park" environment, etc.)<br /><br />5. Nick Harkaway, <i>Angelmaker</i>. Straddles a few lines in his fiction. Haven't read enough of it to say much more than that.<br /><br />6. Joyce Carol Oates, <i>Mudwoman</i>. Oates writes short fiction and novels in a variety of genres. This one, not one of my favorites by hers, appears to be that of the clichéd professor having mid-life crisis/adultery, yet there are certain elements in the novel that some might take as being akin to supernatural phenomena.<br /><br />7. Adam Johnson, <i>The Orphan Master's Son</i>. Pitched as being both "literary" and a "thriller." Haven't read enough to make up my mind on the matter.<br /><br />8. Samuel Delany, <i>Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders</i>. Delany has written in several genres, but this perhaps could be viewed first as "gay fiction," and then the "literary" and "genre" arguments would be secondary to that.<br /><br />9. Mark Helprin, <i>In Sunlight and in Shadow</i>. Although this just-released book is solidly-grounded in post-WWII New York City, Helprin has written at least one novel, <i>Winter's Tale</i>, that contains speculative elements.<br /><br />10. G. Willow Wilson, <i>Alif the Unseen</i>. Will be reading this in the next 1-3 weeks. She started out writing graphic novels/comics and her stories then (and apparently here) have SF/F genre elements, but there are also hints of other elements as well.<br /><br /><br />Needless to say, this snatching of books I've either read earlier this year or am in various stages of reading right now muddy the waters that some seem to believe are a bit pristine in their division of "literary" and "genre" (keep in mind that "genre" for some refers to mysteries or romance novels and not necessarily to SF/Fantasy).Larry Nolenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16001420558511460998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-30349404910599830792012-10-25T06:58:52.478-05:002012-10-25T06:58:52.478-05:001) Tries so very hard, it just has to be genre
2)...1) Tries so very hard, it just has to be genre<br /><br />2) Does not appear to try at all, hence probably litfic<br /><br />3) From the excess of precision, I'd guess genre<br /><br />4) Seems to have a well-developed sense of prose rhythm, hence most likely litfic<br /><br />5) Harkaway, Angelmaker<br /><br />6) Like Liviu, I'd have guessed YA on that one, so I'll say genre<br /><br />7) No genre author I'd think capable of coming up with that last image in this passage has released anything in 2012, so probably litfic<br /><br />8) Delany, Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders<br /><br />9) For the trite sentimentality at the end of this passage, my vote goes to genre. Or maybe bad litfic<br /><br />10) Wilson, Alif the UnseenHeloisehttp://heloise2nd.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-14480135030980414212012-10-25T01:33:31.725-05:002012-10-25T01:33:31.725-05:00The irony is that I actually looked through book 1...The irony is that I actually looked through book 1 a while ago (but I realized it only now thinking why it sounds familiar) as it intrigued me, so again on further thought I kind of regret my hast words earlier about it; another book that I may want to read...<br /><br />Anyway based on these extracts books 4 and 7 are the ones I would definitely want to read and I plan to take a look at them assuming I figure out what is 4 - cannot remember if I saw it or just I imagine, but it is an early 12 book if I looked through it...<br /><br />And of course I found another very fascinating book that seems to want to take over my reading, a translation called Where Tigers are at Home by Jean Marie Blas de Robles (11 UK, 13 US so not quite 12) with a dual story about Athanasius Kircher's life and some present day stories in Brazil and standing at 700+ pages <br /><br />And one of my huge (non-sff) favorite authors just published his first fantasy which is another 700 page or so monsterLiviuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04615405766065227026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-42402825595067089212012-10-25T01:07:24.587-05:002012-10-25T01:07:24.587-05:00Yes, #9 is well-known for his conservative views, ...Yes, #9 is well-known for his conservative views, but he writes very well and his latest, 1/3 into it, is reading very well (and apparently is based heavily on his parents' lives from what he said at a reading I attended).<br /><br />#4 I also heard read recently; debut novelist. #6 just received a lifetime achievement award.<br /><br />Several of the authors have written what might be considered to be "genre" (more than just SF/F; #7 contains elements of a thriller, what I've read of it so far), while some that might be assumed to be "genre" writers have also written "lit" pieces.Larry Nolenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16001420558511460998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-21681724701251602542012-10-24T23:15:54.489-05:002012-10-24T23:15:54.489-05:00I meant I read like 50 pages from both books 5 and...I meant I read like 50 pages from both books 5 and 10 and both are on my "to read eventually", while book 9 I browsed through (read maybe the first 50 pages carefully) and put aside...Liviuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04615405766065227026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-36311453669522031632012-10-24T23:13:02.609-05:002012-10-24T23:13:02.609-05:00For 5 and 10 I know as I read those paragraphs (or...For 5 and 10 I know as I read those paragraphs (or something very similar...); for 7, there are two Korean subject books I know of this year, one Black Flower which I read from and it is not that, so I guesses the other which i did not open yet...<br /><br />Now that you mentioned it, I read through book 9 as I have a Net galley arc but for some reason it did not work for me, nor did his earlier works I tried like the one on the Italian front in WW1- the author is one of the more famous conservative novelists and yes the book is not genre and takes place in NY after the war<br /><br />have to look again at 4 and 6 - 4 sounds familiar but i opened so many books this year that it is easy to miss or confuse stuffLiviuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04615405766065227026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-39367686499509338512012-10-24T20:40:34.435-05:002012-10-24T20:40:34.435-05:00Oh, and you're right on #5, #7, and #10 in ter...Oh, and you're right on #5, #7, and #10 in terms of the books/authors involved.Larry Nolenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16001420558511460998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-73040529862359068892012-10-24T20:39:04.902-05:002012-10-24T20:39:04.902-05:00Good guesses on most of those, except #1 isn't...Good guesses on most of those, except #1 isn't pretentious, at least what I've read so far, #4 and #6 aren't YA (although they have child PoVs/flashbacks), and #9 is from a very well-known writer.<br /><br />As for the squirrel, alas, I didn't find a suitable squirrel passage to quote from any of these :(Larry Nolenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16001420558511460998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-2767235618078461882012-10-24T20:33:29.775-05:002012-10-24T20:33:29.775-05:001. pretentious junk irrelevant of genre/lit
2. a ...1. pretentious junk irrelevant of genre/lit<br /><br />2. a squirrel on the balcony - lit<br /><br />3. post-apocalyptic so genre/lit split irrelevant<br /><br />4. ya <br /><br />5. Nick Harkaway<br /><br />6. another ya<br /><br />7. this reads like the escape from N Korea book of this year but not sure<br /><br />8. genre<br /><br />9. this reads like Michael Cisco so genre<br /><br />10. Alif the Unseen which i have no idea where it fitsLiviuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04615405766065227026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-11505667377548551052012-10-24T20:12:30.126-05:002012-10-24T20:12:30.126-05:00You were off on about half of them ;)You were off on about half of them ;)Larry Nolenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16001420558511460998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-48502903558268495672012-10-24T20:08:50.627-05:002012-10-24T20:08:50.627-05:001) Maybe I just think poorly of genre, but the use...1) Maybe I just think poorly of genre, but the use of "angency" swayed me toward lit. Then it moves into honor and legacy and it feels like it switches back to genre again.<br /><br />2) I am going to go against the obvious choice and say lit.<br /><br />3) Genre, but it is not likely to have been taken in by or marketed to genre readers. Lit by way of marketing.<br /><br />4) Subject matter and tone screams lit.<br /><br />5) Genre, but again it seems to fall on deaf ears for most genre readers. Accessability seems an issue with this author.<br /><br />6) Lit.<br /><br />7) Lit.<br /><br />8) Lit.<br /><br />9) Want to say genre, but this could be a fanciful exaggeration. Eh, genre it is.<br /><br />10) Genre.<br />Jameshttp://epbth.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com