Genre fiction and -- perhaps even more so -- midlist or what I call popular-serious fiction ("The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit" is a good example) definitely offers one thing that most of the too-serious fiction rarely does: a report on and sense of how life is/was lived.
Science fiction has often predicted lots of things, because there are some smart writers who extrapolate well. And SF also has influenced the culture, even if it's not often acknowledged. You know that cellphone or GPS thing you might have and use these days? Yup. SF stories, 20 or 30 years ago. Dick Tracy's two-way wrist TV. And lots of other examples.
Genre fiction and -- perhaps even more so -- midlist or what I call popular-serious fiction ("The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit" is a good example) definitely offers one thing that most of the too-serious fiction rarely does: a report on and sense of how life is/was lived.
ReplyDeleteSomething I've been saying for years.
ReplyDeleteScience fiction has often predicted lots of things, because there are some smart writers who extrapolate well. And SF also has influenced the culture, even if it's not often acknowledged. You know that cellphone or GPS thing you might have and use these days? Yup. SF stories, 20 or 30 years ago. Dick Tracy's two-way wrist TV. And lots of other examples.