Busytown: Holiday reading lust
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Craig, if you were to read the Atwood essay on SF that Cecelia referred to above, you would find a more nuanced discussion of her terminology and the potential of the genre. She points out that we don't all have to make the same distinction between science fiction and speculative fiction that she does, eg:
I have written two works of science fiction or, if you prefer, speculative fiction: The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake.
(Three now, with The Year of the Flood)
You might be a little less angry at Atwood after you read it. Link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2005/jun/17/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror.margaretatwood -
Yes, I think I had mentioned upthread she had since largely retracted, and to her credit - that's the essay I was thinking of.
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Craig, if you were to read the Atwood essay on SF that Cecelia referred to above, you would find a more nuanced discussion of her terminology and the potential of the genre.
I did, and I remain unconvinced that her taxonomy is particularly useful no matter how much you finesse it.
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I did, and I remain unconvinced that her taxonomy is particularly useful.
It's an extraordinarily patronising piece, but a big step up from squids in space you'll have to admit.
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Wow, what a great thread! Read through the whole thing last night, and not much to add other than to express relief that Paul Litterick received the flaming he so deserved for his outrageous declarations of outmoded snobbery -- delivered presumably from the safety (and mindset) of an ivory tower somewhere -- re. sci-fi vs. literary fiction, readers vs. fans, Margaret Atwood, Iain (M.) Banks, umm.. and so on.
Personally I have no taste for space opera, fantasy, dragons, cave bears and what-not; my preference leans towards Dick, Gibson, Ballard, Burroughs, Vonnegut et. al. I think Kilgore Trout is my favourite sci-fi author; if not him then Phillip K. Dick, for sure. Properly engaging with Dick's catalog over the last five years or has and continues to be a life-changing experience. And his "non-genre" books, mostly published posthumously, are a revelation of the quiet horrors of existence: I would happily file them amongst Plath, Yates, Salinger, and the like.
No-one's mentioned Neal Stephenson in terms of one of those pesky genre-straddling authors, but look: simplistically put, he went from Snow Crash (cyberpunk) and Cryptonomicon (sci-fi, probably) to a series of historical doorstops that on sight fill me with frankly the same horror as for e.g. the discovery of the existence of another pile of cack from Stephen Donaldson.
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It's an extraordinarily patronising piece, but a big step up from squids in space you'll have to admit.
True enough -- but it still has the awful after-taste of "I'm a real writer -- and so is X., Y. & Z. -- get me away from these sad geeks before one of them tries to cop a feel."
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I think Kilgore Trout is my favourite sci-fi author
Another as-of-yet culpably omitted luminary: Stanislav Lem. I still have Solaris down as one of the great novels of the twentieth century.
to a series of historical doorstops that on sight fill me with frankly the same horror as for e.g. the discovery of the existence of another pile of cack from Stephen Donaldson.
I used to like him a lot, but midway through the Baroque cycle I considered having a whip-round to get him an editor. All of those books would be better off by being a couple of hundred pages shorter.
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Another as-of-yet culpably omitted luminary: Stanislav Lem. I still have Solaris down as one of the great novels of the twentieth century.
Oh christ, how did I forget Lem. He's so great. Something about living under Soviet rule/in the Eastern bloc gave him some kind of rare perspective into politics, science, existence...
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin is also a great book and a great example of political commentary as sci-fi; file it with Brave New World, and 1984.
Finally: Grey Matters by William Hjortsberg is surely one of the absolute all-time underrated classics of sci-fi and I urgently recommend it to anyone I can. I even suspect David Mitchell of cribbing from it for Cloud Atlas.
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Thanks BookieMonster for the link to The Millions and the spoof of The Road. (On previous page )I wasn't a fan of it and found it forced. Just goes to show authors should write about the here and now instead of fiddling around with the future. (Just kidding - sort of.)
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Another as-of-yet culpably omitted luminary: Stanislav Lem. I still have Solaris down as one of the great novels of the twentieth century.
True dat. Solaris and the short story Terminus are among the most compelling and scariest stories I have ever read. Not to mention Memoirs found in a bath-tub.
I have never seen them in English, though. Are they available?
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Oh, I will argue that the best of Gene Wolfe's "science fiction" (his magisterial Book of The New Sun as Exhibit A) is better than Atwood's "speculative fiction".
I wasn't a fan of it and found it forced. Just goes to show authors should write about the here and now instead of fiddling around with the future. (Just kidding - sort of.)
Really? Writing about "the here and now" (more or less) hasn't saved Cormac McCarthy from being a grossly over-rated posturing bore, whose prose is only praise-worthy in the eyes of people who mistake obscurity for profundity. Not kidding at all.
I have never seen them in English, though. Are they available?
Lem-a-palloza! :) I know a fluent Polish speaker and SF nut who says the English edition of Solaris (which was actually a translation of a French edition!) is less than ideal, but still readable.
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I have never seen them in English, though. Are they available?
Yes, Wellington library has the lot and I would be surprised if the Auckland circuit didn't also.
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I have never seen them in English, though. Are they available?
Note to self: Learn 2 library. I see that AKL library has these (in English).
Oh, I will argue that the best of Gene Wolfe's "science fiction" (his magisterial Book of The New Sun as Exhibit A) is better than Atwood's "speculative fiction".
I've never read Atwood, but I did dip my toe in fantasy (or is that Sci-Fi?) a while ago by reading Wolfe's Book of the New Sun. I had high expectations but was left a bit underwhelmed. Although I really liked the Ascian language.
Edit: Giovanni - snap!
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Thanks BookieMonster for the link to The Millions and the spoof of The Road.
Yes, thanks!
But also? How can you really have a Cormac McCarthy spoof with nobody getting laved?
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I know a fluent Polish speaker and SF nut who says the English edition of Solaris (which was actually a translation of a French edition!) is less than ideal, but still readable.
Though it's only fair to point out that Lem himself (who read English fluently) was extremely unhappy with the "double-translated" English edition of Solaris, but couldn't convince his Polish publisher to commission a direct translation. Talk about being a victim of your own success...
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whose prose is only praise-worthy in the eyes of people who mistake obscurity for profundity.
Thank god I finally have a explanation for why I like The Road so much, despite its making me squirm and feeling like barfs.
Kidding.
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But also? How can you really have a Cormac McCarthy spoof with nobody getting laved?
One can only hope for the next installments!
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Thank god I finally have a explanation for why I like The Road so much, despite its making me squirm and feeling like barfs.
Kidding.
I know you were -- reading your blog, you're no damn good at being a literary poseur. :)
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I know you were -- reading your blog, you're no damn good at being a literary poseur. :)
I should stop using words like "barfs", right? And "ZOMGponies". The "ZOMGponies" give it away.
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I've just discovered 'mansplain' also, thanks to a particular urban vernacular specialist on this thread ;-) Something which I am intending to look out for in my future posts, and why I am desisting from further comment on the Sci-Fi front.
Read some. Yes. Written a PhD on the subject replete with exhaustive bibliography of obscure references for and against (what was the question again?) not so much.
@BM Little bunny foofoo...
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The "ZOMGponies" give it away.
Not if you teach them to scowl and treat books like caster oil enemas.
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@BM Little bunny foofoo...
Squee! *snorgle*
http://cuteoverload.com/2009/11/30/disapproval-at-a-different-level/should-poland-be-nervous/The "ZOMGponies" give it away.
Not if you teach them to scowl and treat books like caster oil enemas.
I made the ZOMGponies sound easy. "Yeah, they're hanging out down in the field, just giving it away."
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I've just discovered 'mansplain' also [....] which I am intending to look out for in my future posts, and why I am desisting from further comment
HA! yeah, fine in a one-to-one or one-to-few convo, but it's a tough one, though, on forums:-- cos you'll typically be 'talking' to a wide range of knowledges.
So you end up torn tween turning up the mansplaining for fear of readers not knowing what yer on about.. or going light on it, and invariably have some other person jumping down yer throat and getting all mainsplaining on YOU.
gee the internets is a rough place.
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gee the internet is a rough place.
I hear ya'! Still, kind of fun too, in a ZOMG ponies sort of way.
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I hear ya'! Still, kind of fun too, in a ZOMG ponies sort of way.
Hearing that. You get disillusioned, it comes back with ponies.
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