We are finally—I believe—past the time of the unexamined assumption that literary fiction is automatically high art (and therefore worthy of our imaginations and ink), while genre fiction is intrinsically lowbrow or mind-wasting (and therefore not worthy of those things. Or not for academic credit, anyway).
My sense is that the past decade has seen a growing acceptance of genre writing in the workshop, or at least a growing acceptance of work that flirts with genre. And I wonder if this is because more writers who teach these workshops are themselves flirting more with genre. (Kim Wright recently published this essay about the phenomenon of literary authors jumping into the genre pool.)
Still, potential arguments remain for emphasizing literary fiction, particularly literary realism, in the workshop:
- Literary fiction is generally more “character-based” than genre fiction.
- Instructors are more comfortable teaching their own area of expertise, which is usually literary fiction.
- Each genre has its own conventions that don’t necessarily cross genres or apply to literary fiction, whereas (the thinking goes) the lessons of literary fiction more readily apply across all genres.
Continue reading “Genre Fiction: Wizards? Private Eyes? Space Aliens?”