Stephen Hunt Takes on the Man (of Literary Fiction)

In his article “One Genre to bring them all and in the darkness bind them”, Stephen Hunt (founder of SF Crowsnest) deplores the dearth of respect that science fiction receives in the United Kingdom.

Or, technically, I suppose he is just picking on the BBC for being too much like…the BBC…when it comes to handling fiction (and science fiction). The BBC, of course, gave us Dr. Who and two major radio adaptations of The Lord of the Rings so I’m not sure it’s fair to say that science fiction has always been given short shrift (well, technically, it seems that the BBC prefers fantasy to science fiction).

Literary snobbism has been around for hundreds if not thousands of years. Can you imagine the reception Homer might have received for daring to add to the canon of the Greek Epic cycle (which had begun several generations before his time)? How about when Virgil offered up “The Aeneid”?

Poets and authors alike have struggled to earned recognition from their peers and the audiences of their predecessors. Maybe Virgil had an advantage because his “Aeneid” was a Roman national epic masquerading as Greek literature and he was actually friends with the emperor Augustus.

Still, asking your peers to treat you with respect is both a modern thing (we are so into building self-esteem through social acceptance now) and contrary to the spirit of literary passion. That is, some of the greatest of literature was written outside the mainstream and only eventually assumed its place among the greats.

Which is not to say that any author who sets him or herself the task of writing literary fiction is one of the greats. Rather, they are following in the footsteps of the greats and keeping their experimentation within more generally accepted boundaries.

Science fiction is no more or no less experimental than mainstream literary fiction, but it IS a genre and by definition (although I don’t know precisely who’s definition) genre fiction lies outside the mainstream.

It’s been almost 40 years since J.R.R. Tolkien died and despite the immense publication and adaptation success his Lord of the Rings has enjoyed, he still isn’t really accepted as a literary author (which is ironic, given how his experiment in alternative mainstream fiction has yet to be acknowledged as such).

Tolkien has gained in acceptance among academics and critics alike because an entire new generation of academics and critics grew up reading (and enjoying) Tolkien. That is pretty much what it takes to become accepted as mainstream fiction.

Jules Verne is still treated somewhat stiffly by mainstream fiction afficianados, as is Mark Twain. Both men wrote very experimental literature when there were fewer genres and distinctions. Both men were very successful. Both men’s works have inspired generations of adaptations and interpretations, but they’re not really literary writers.

We can certainly propagate our ideas through the new media like YouTube, blogs, Facebook, and Twitter but those media lie outside the heart of the print publishing industry. I think that Mr. Hunt’s desire to be accepted into the elite club of authors who are recognized and promoted by traditional print publishing and broadcasting fails to grasp the significance of the medium he himself has helped to shape.

We are unrestrained by the snobbish distinctions that the BBC and its ilk have drawn across the literaryscape. Literature itself is changing, evolving into an electronic form of expression that is more flexible, more volatile, and easier to enter into. The clutter of self-promoted junk and wisdom makes it as difficult if not more challenging than trying to break into the traditional literary world.

I think the message people should be sending to the BBC is that it has become a dinosaur that needs to embrace the new medium and celebrate the minds that populate that medium with new creativity.

I don’t think we need to be defending the genre fiction against the upturned noses of old guard institutions. Rather, we need to be extending the invitation to them to join us in the construction of new institutions and traditions. It’s the gracious thing to do when one sees a tired generation standing amid the ruin of its once lofty ambitions.

The problem is not that genre fiction is barred from competing with mainstream fiction — the problem is that we should not be looking back to the standards of yesterday when we carve out the standards of tomorrow.

And isn’t that what Science Fiction is supposed to be all about anyway?