Norman Spinrad Quote

Cat Rambo: Where do you think the perennial debate between what is literary fiction and what is genre is sited?Norman Spinrad: I think it’s a load of crap. See my latest column in Asimov’s, particularly re The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I detest the whole concept of genre. A piece of fiction is either a good story well told or it isn’t. The supposed dichotomy between literary fiction and popular fiction is ridiculous. Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Mailer, did not have serious literary intent? As writers of serious literary intent, they didn’t want to be popular, meaning sell a lot of books? They wanted to be unpopular and have terrible sales figures to prove they were serious?

Norman Spinrad

Cat Rambo: Where do you think the perennial debate between what is literary fiction and what is genre is sited?Norman Spinrad: I think it’s a load of crap. See my latest column in Asimov’s, particularly re The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I detest the whole concept of genre. A piece of fiction is either a good story well told or it isn’t. The supposed dichotomy between literary fiction and popular fiction is ridiculous. Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Mailer, did not have serious literary intent? As writers of serious literary intent, they didn’t want to be popular, meaning sell a lot of books? They wanted to be unpopular and have terrible sales figures to prove they were serious?

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About Norman Spinrad

Norman Richard Spinrad (born September 15, 1940) is an American science fiction author, essayist, and critic. His fiction has won the Prix Apollo and been nominated for numerous awards, including the Hugo Award and multiple Nebula Awards.