Aram Zucker-Scharff

On Poisoned Apples, the “Great YA Debate,” and the Death of the Patriarchy:

anneursu:

“Ah, here we are. Appropriate subjects for sophisticated narrative art. A serious novel is about things these gentlemen find serious—like the decline of the cultural authority of the straight white male. It astonishes me how endlessly fascinating some men find themselves.”

Good write up of the YA reading debate.

“The problem with our national lit isn’t just that it’s often written from the same voice; it’s written often to the same listeners. But if you changed the listeners, you change the art. Literally.”

– “If You Changed the Listeners, You Change the Art”: An Interview With Kiese Laymon.

“

No, instead, proper mature adults should be reading appropriately literary fiction—which, presumably, you find in the part of the bookstore marked “Literature.”

I’d hate to hear what she thinks about my comics collection.

This argument is a familiar one to anyone who has ever heard that serious literature can’t contain spaceships or aliens or, god forbid, dragons. For decades, science fiction and fantasy fans have dealt with people dismissing our favorite books as “mere escapism” — no matter how many William Gibsons or Neal Stephensons or George R.R. Martins came along. But as science fiction and fantasy are being taken more seriously, it seems that we need to find more targets for our elitist sniffing.

”

– Really? Are We Still Genre Shaming People For The Books They Like?

“

No, instead, proper mature adults should be reading appropriately literary fiction—which, presumably, you find in the part of the bookstore marked “Literature.”

I’d hate to hear what she thinks about my comics collection.

This argument is a familiar one to anyone who has ever heard that serious literature can’t contain spaceships or aliens or, god forbid, dragons. For decades, science fiction and fantasy fans have dealt with people dismissing our favorite books as “mere escapism” — no matter how many William Gibsons or Neal Stephensons or George R.R. Martins came along. But as science fiction and fantasy are being taken more seriously, it seems that we need to find more targets for our elitist sniffing.

”

– Really? Are We Still Genre Shaming People For The Books They Like?