And while this conversation is not in any way going to clear things up, we do hope that this sparks of a healthy debate on this subject. So in general, there's always been a stigma around writing genre fiction, which is considered to be shallow, formalike, and escapist pulp fiction, while literary fiction is considered to be more realistic, serious, layered, and all of that
Archana Sarat
@archanasarat · 4:41
He says, how on one hand, you have people saying that these books are important and that they are beautifully crafted, and on the other hand, you do not get any real recognition. Neil Gaiman and Kazuo also talk about how genre fiction is considered as a fiction that is read for pleasure. While literary fiction is seen as the fiction that you read for improvement, Kazuma says that it's okay to read for improvement
So I feel it is a good thing, something which he should be proud of and not want to distance himself from. But then again, I'm thinking, as a reader, should we be all that bothered about why he chose not to call his novel of fantasy, for it is at the end of the day, the reader who pegs a book as this or that right. So and sometimes the label doesn't matter at all. So I would love to know what you think about this
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
But it made me wonder about writers like Raymond Chandler, the father of the hardboiled Detective fiction, who brought in that raw, realistic, intrigue style into his books and has greatly influenced the modern day crime fiction writing. How did they manage to get past this? Or even Ray Bradbury, as you say, who is so universally adored for his surreal and apocalyptic books that are not really seen as guilty pleasures or escapist literature, but as actual real works of art
Karan Dev
@Karan.Dev · 1:16
Hey, Archana, thank you so much for that. Very interesting first. Well, you know, what stuck with me from everything that you talked about was how novels aren't to be used as status symbols. You know, this takes me back to Charles Dickens and some of the things that he warned the world about in The Tale of Two Cities
Hello, Ashina. Hello, Ramya. Hello, Sarat. I think it's a wonderful discussion happening on Swell and I definitely want to add something to this. First and foremost, literature is meant to break barriers, not to create new ones. The whole idea of literary fiction versus genre fiction and the divide and surrounding paraphernalia around the discussion is absolutely a false narrative. Both have equally important role in the industry. Publishers gives equal importance to both categories, and they go on hand in hand
So tomorrow, even a genre fiction is written in India and which is very contextual outside the country, it will be picked up. It will actually go ahead and make sense there. So I don't think there is any issue on that particular ground. Yes, but it does say that all the literary fiction books have been popular and also being popular outside, not genre fiction authors, for that, the reason is very clear context
Archana Sarat
@archanasarat · 2:57
Since The Bunker from Ridomania is here, I must urge you to check out the various anthologies that come out from their publishing house. You would find some very interesting, well written stories from multi various genres over there. You wouldn't be disappointed internationally. I love the works of Doris Lessing, Kazuo Ishiguro, Orhan Palmark. There are so many others. I must also mention my favorite John of fiction writers. So Kigo Higuchino, the author of the Japanese mystery novels, is a huge favorite of mine
Archana Sarat
@archanasarat · 1:40
Hi de punker. Thank you so much for your response. I have to disagree with you. Depunker literary fiction like Neil McCarthy, The Life of Others or Serious Men or Mulkraj Anans Untouchable, or even Arundhati Roy is the God of all small things. All these are specific to particular cities, communities, culture, caste, religion, and even Indian politics. And all of this is alien to the international market. But still, those books have done extremely well abroad
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcast · 4:43
And I would really wish that there would be more genre fiction from India here, available to myself and to my friends. And I think we would appreciate it. And I know I'm running out of time. I do want to bring up another thing real quick about genre fiction and things is pushing the American market right now for the hashtag owned voices. And I think it's genre fiction would fit right in with that. So those are my thoughts and thank you
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 3:38
And I think we need to point that out more in a lot of the books for reading the ways in which it uses elements of genre and to claim those proudly rather than and lump them under just literary fiction, as though all of those books are the same. That's my two cent. But I'm really excited to hear more
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 1:28
Some are better than others just in the most basic sense of craft and pros. However, maybe they sell because they are hitting certain things that readers want as far as plot and story. Even if the writing isn't spectacular. I don't see that as a reflection of the genre. The same thing can happen with literary fiction as well
Sreeja V
@Wordsmith · 2:38
I love reading Sudhamurti as much as I enjoy reading Alexander Mccollsmith. To me, the value is in their ability to draw from real life situations and make it so interesting to read and relate and imbibe at the same time. So in a couple of lines, there is an entire culture that is looking at you. Similarly, I quite accidentally happened to stumble upon Mary West McCarth's work. Mary west McCart is actually a Gather Christie's pen name