The Discussion Moves Along; Spec. Fic.: Literary Vs. Entertaining?
Notes From The Peanut Gallery has a new entry up: Spec. Fic.: Literary Vs. Entertaining? An excerpt:
...the editorial "policy" (this is such a slippery word and is a combination of aesthetics, poetics and whathaveyous) of the antho Nikki and I edit is unabashedly literary - which is to say, we tend to publish more stories that she and I consider to have literary merit. This slant (which can, yes, be called a bias) is reflective of our own tastes as readers and writers (aside: and Nikki and I have our disagreements on stories, which makes story selection quite interesting). The stories Nikki and I like to read, and those we attempt to write (whether successfully or not - the thing is in the doing and trying again), reflect this.
What does this mean? Personally speaking, the very core of this is my admiration for a well-written story. On one hand, it needs to work simply as a story, on a story level, on a reader level. On the other hand, it needs to, on some other level/s, be more than just a story: I look for "literariness". My taste in stories is deeply influenced by the "what" and "how" elements in the narrative text - how these are handled by the author.
There are at least two levels in a narrative text: something that occurs is related or told in some way. In structuralist terminology the "what" of the narrative is called story, the "how"is called discourse . Story consists of events and existents. Discourse consists of the various elements of transmission. I look at these elements when I read, and along with the sensibilities I've gotten from reading other books and stories plus the deep influence of my writerly growing-up experiences plus my own ongoing shifts in taste plus other influences me whether I am aware of these or not (pop culture, music, art, life), and then come up with my opinion on whether or not a story worked - for me. So yes, I do have a preference, a leaning towards well-written stories, literary stories.
But this does not mean that I will squash a story that does not "live up" to what I think makes a good story.
Click here to read the whole link.
Click here and here to read past links.
...the editorial "policy" (this is such a slippery word and is a combination of aesthetics, poetics and whathaveyous) of the antho Nikki and I edit is unabashedly literary - which is to say, we tend to publish more stories that she and I consider to have literary merit. This slant (which can, yes, be called a bias) is reflective of our own tastes as readers and writers (aside: and Nikki and I have our disagreements on stories, which makes story selection quite interesting). The stories Nikki and I like to read, and those we attempt to write (whether successfully or not - the thing is in the doing and trying again), reflect this.
What does this mean? Personally speaking, the very core of this is my admiration for a well-written story. On one hand, it needs to work simply as a story, on a story level, on a reader level. On the other hand, it needs to, on some other level/s, be more than just a story: I look for "literariness". My taste in stories is deeply influenced by the "what" and "how" elements in the narrative text - how these are handled by the author.
There are at least two levels in a narrative text: something that occurs is related or told in some way. In structuralist terminology the "what" of the narrative is called story, the "how"is called discourse . Story consists of events and existents. Discourse consists of the various elements of transmission. I look at these elements when I read, and along with the sensibilities I've gotten from reading other books and stories plus the deep influence of my writerly growing-up experiences plus my own ongoing shifts in taste plus other influences me whether I am aware of these or not (pop culture, music, art, life), and then come up with my opinion on whether or not a story worked - for me. So yes, I do have a preference, a leaning towards well-written stories, literary stories.
But this does not mean that I will squash a story that does not "live up" to what I think makes a good story.
Click here to read the whole link.
Click here and here to read past links.
posted by pgenrestories at 9:37 AM
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