The Cultural Decline of Literary Fiction

Re:The Cultural Decline of Literary Fiction by exmadscientist on Sunday June 22, 2025 @02:01PM (#44348923)

Part of it, I think, is that genre fiction simply has more tools available. That lets an author do their thing a lot easier, and in the hands of a master, is how you get masterworks. (I decided to check The Left Hand of Darkness off my list last week. Its introduction hits intellectually heavier than the last three books I've read put together. The introduction. And it's about five pages long.)

Of course, 90% of genre fiction is crap. (Bare minimum, I'll not argue with anyone who wants to argue for more.) But we know that. There's enough of it that I can find something interesting to read. I can't say the same for the last 20 years of literary, non-genre works. (I'll take pointers, though.)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Cultural Decline of Literary Fiction by libraryofbabel on Sunday June 22, 2025 @03:36PM (#44349652)

Oh boy, Left Hand of Darkness is a good book. And I always tell people to not skip the introduction, because it is brilliant. “Prediction is the business of prophets, clairvoyants, and futurologists. It is not the business of novelists. A novelist's business is lying.”

I get the feeling Ursula Le Guin could have been a pretty successful realist “literary” writer if she’d chosen to. I am grateful that she chose genre instead.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Cultural Decline of Literary Fiction by 7thaccount on Sunday June 22, 2025 @06:06PM (#44350699)

I love that first chapter where the main character meets a politician and says something like "I'd seen his type before, was confident I'd see it again, and would probably see it in hell". I must have reread that line 10x.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Cultural Decline of Literary Fiction by amacbride on Sunday June 22, 2025 @02:25PM (#44349118)

A well-known observation!

“Sturgeon's law (or Sturgeon's revelation) is an adage stating ‘ninety percent of everything is crap’.”

[ Parent | on HN ]