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Author
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Comment
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Jessica
Unregistered User
(5/27/04 11:11 pm)
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!
To be honest, I'm not always clear on what separates a fairytale from a folktale and a legend from a myth, etc. etc. Obviously, there _are_ distinctions, and in some cases it seems pretty easy to make those distinctions. But if asked for a definition, I couldn't give one I felt confident about. (Is there a thread on this, darnit? I couldn't find anything using the search archives function.)
But I wish that fantasy was shelved away from SF the same way I wonder why The Princess Bride is shelved in the "Fiction & Literature" section instead of the Fantasy section... Go figure, right?
--Jessica
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redtriskell
Registered User
(6/2/04 10:42 pm)
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genre fiction
They shelve sci-fi and fantasy together because it's a good way to identify the weird geeks in your local bookstore. It's as rational an explanation as any. But I think the real problem lies in the seemingly obsessive need to categorize everything. When you get down to it, ALL fiction is fantasy. All of it is made up stories. Everything else is just nomenclature. Of course, loosely defined genres make it easier for the reader to avoid things. As noted earlier, the Boris art on sword and sorcery fiction will scare away the hearts and unicorns crowd. Sadly, I think publishers must have a lot of input on how different books are marketed... I've learned not to put much faith in cover art or blurbs or shelving constraints. Which means I spend a lot of time spot reading and trying new-to-me
authors at the used bookstore. That way, if I don't like it, I only spent a little money; and, if I do like it, I can always order a new copy.
As for the different definitions of all these types of stories, I think of all of it- myth, legend, folklore, fairy tale, urban lore, animal tale, etc- as what the Grimms called them. Marchen- tales of wonder. Wonder, as in, to think- wonder, as in, awe. I think that sums them up quite nicely.
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darklingthrush
Registered User
(6/6/04 6:18 pm)
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Re: genre fiction
I do agree that genre fiction is generally mislabeled especially in bookstores who try to design stores by how people shop rather than any nice sort of system. I work at a bookstore and come up nose first to this often as people look for Stephen King in fantasy, try to find copies of Philip Pullman's Dark Materials (as it is in Teen, Juv Fiction and Sf/Fantasy) as well as CS Lewis's Narnia series.
At any rate, I have to mention a fairy tale writer that I found strange and dear when I was younger and that is George Macdonald. I read his Golden Key first and loved the dream-inspired imagery.
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Niniane
Sunyata
Registered User
(6/7/04 1:41 am)
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Re: genre fiction
Which is why I always venture over to the Juvenile/Teen fiction section. To look for Diana Wynne Jones and other goodies. Apart from that, I don't really mind fantasy/scifi shelves being beside each other since I read both genres and enjoy hanging out @ the "geek" section of bookstores. I really get irritated when some of them wind up in the bestseller-ish shelves though. Or when romance books end up on the fantasy shelves.
Anita Harris.
Terra Mythogene
www.mythopoetica.com
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wrightales
Registered User
(6/9/04 7:06 am)
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shelving
If the bookstore where I work was a TARDIS I would be happy to try to separtae the sci-fi from the fantasy, but as it is unfortunately constrained by physical limits it becomes more problematic.
You'll notice I said TRY to separate them. There is a tremendous amount of cross-genre writing in SF. We do separate out "horror" as in ghosts, vampires, Stephen King, Laurel K. Hamilton, etc. but even that is difficult to define.
Our general fiction section is overwhelming as it is, even with mystery, sci-fi/fantasy, horror, romance, historical fiction, classics and anthologies all separated out. Whether you object to labeling or not, it is the only feasible way to set up a browsable bookstore. I have seen many customers whose eyes glaze over when confronted with the general fiction aisle.
Lisa
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darklingthrush
Registered User
(6/9/04 12:15 pm)
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Re: shelving
laf If it was only size constraints. I think the genre labeling deals more specifically with someone in the coporate marketing desk. I work for one of those enormous book giants. As far as horror genre, they are liberally mixed into fiction/literature and Sf/fantasy. Per example, Stephen King because he is a bestseller is in Fiction/Literature, while Laurel Hamilton is in Sf/Fantasy section. This confuses customers to no end and I concur with them.
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Veronica
Schanoes
Registered User
(6/9/04 2:45 pm)
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shelving
I want to speak up for categorization. Sometimes I want to read a mystery novel, and I don't want to wade through shelves of science fiction or general fiction about farm life on the frontier in order to find it. I don't know, I'm pretty bright. If I can't find something in a given section, I'll usually ask one of the people working at the bookstore if it would be anywhere else, which is how I found Sappho, was shelved in Classics rather than in Poetry at Borders. Or would have been, if she'd been there at all. I can check more than one section.
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