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Why Science Fiction Still Doesn't Get Into The Inner Circle

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naraoia
04/13/09

In reply to Why Science Fiction Still Doesn't Get Into The Inner Circle
Enh. Let the baby have his bottle. Every day these "Academies" and their ilk grow less relevant. The canon is barely read outside of college classes now (and sometimes not even then) and "literature" has become one more bankrupt genre like nurse novels or "Gothics", choking to death on its own cliches.

Who needs 'em?
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lightninglouie
04/13/09

@naraoia: Barely read outside of college? Price and Boyle are national bestsellers.

And hey, as far as Richard Price is concerned? I need him. Maybe if there was an SF writer who wrote as well as he does, we would have a "genre" writer elected as president of the academy.

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TrueCrime
04/13/09

@lightninglouie: Thank you. Price is a stunning writer, and even though he deals most often with crime stories, no one would think to shoehorn him into the crime or detective "genre."

Incidentally,...

[www.vonnegutweb.com]
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Pope John Peeps II
04/13/09

@naraoia: spoken like a true child.

Do you know WHAT the American Academy of Arts and Letters is, because based on your note, you seem to think that it's ACTUALLY a school instead of a collection of practicing artists from every genre who nominate those people who've made an amazing contribution to the world of art. You can argue that theoreticians and academics are biased, but you can't really argue that artists themselves don't know good art.

Also, it's kind of a dick move to claim that the "Academy" is snobbish and then refer to Parnassus, eh McLatchy?
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Cozmic
04/13/09

@lightninglouie:
Just because a book is a national bestseller does not mean it is being read. How many people do you think actually read the books Oprah reccomends? Yeah they get bought, but owning something Oprah likes is trendy, and while I can't fairly compare Oprah's reading club to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, I have to assume that, things they reccomend make lots of sales to people who have no intention of reading, and instead simply wish to display how trendy, artsy, educated or "snobbish" they are with their bookshelf collections.
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lightninglouie
04/13/09

@Cozmic: There's a big difference between Richard Price or T.C. Boyle and the latest Oprah pick. Both Price and Boyle have been writing professionally for over thirty years, and consequently they have large, devoted followings. It's safe to assume that more purchased copies of their books are actually read, as opposed to The Shack or some such crap.

Have you actually read Price or Boyle? They're damn fine writers. Most of their fans buy them more for the entertainment value than the desire to show how cool they are for owning their books. (And "educated" is a bad thing? Really? Usually people who display their books in order to look erudite are uneducated dipshits.)

See, this is another reason why SF gets no respect: A small but virulent minority of fans makes the entire seem like reactionary, knuckle-dragging troglodytes.
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TrueCrime
04/13/09

@Cozmic: Wow. Talk about snobbish. I challenge you to pick up a copy of Lush Life and read just the first thirty or so pages. You don't have to buy it -- go to the library, or sit at a table in a book store. Don't be afraid. I know there isn't a spaceship on the cover, or a cyborg, or an angry alien warrior, but that shouldn't stop you. There's a vast world of literature out there beyond the sci fi/fantasy racks. Find it. You might learn something.

I'd love to see some of sci fi's luminaries stand shoulder to shoulder with Price and Boyle, but it just kills me to read these idiotic, petulant posts crapping on genuine talents and voices.
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Pope John Peeps II
04/13/09

@Cozmic: Just because a book is a national bestseller does not mean it is being read

Really? This is what you're going with? Look just re-think the kind of life that gives birth to sentences like this, then come back chastened and have reasonable thoughts, kay?
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twDarkflame
04/13/09

@Pope John Peeps II: "You can argue that theoreticians and academics are biased, but you can't really argue that artists themselves don't know good art."

Given how many SciFi authors themselfs dont call themselfs Scifi, I'm not too sure that holds much weight.
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Pope John Peeps II
04/14/09

@twDarkflame: That doesn't really have anything to do with anything. Scifi authors can call themselves whatever pretentious twaddle they want, but whatever the results it's still going to be the same thing, and they're still going to be viewed in the same way.

Art is judged on a continuum, there aren't two different scales based on whether or not there's a cyborg in the book.
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TrueCrime
04/13/09

In reply to Why Science Fiction Still Doesn't Get Into The Inner Circle
Price deserves all the praise he gets, though.
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Rasselas
04/13/09

In reply to Why Science Fiction Still Doesn't Get Into The Inner Circle
The appeal of T.C. Boyle eludes me.
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Charlie Jane Anders
04/13/09

@Rasselas: My friend claims his short fiction is way better than his novels. I read a couple of his short stories and they left me just as cold as his novels TBH.
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92BuickLeSabre
04/13/09

In reply to Why Science Fiction Still Doesn't Get Into The Inner Circle
Because nothing says class like colon-cleansing and corn flakes.
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