Date: Mon, 09 Jan 2006 22:20:46 -0500
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>,
        WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
From: "Mike B." <omni at omniphile.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: 5 Best Sf
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

At 1/9/2006 08:29 PM, Samuel Lubell wrote:

>A case can be made that Bradbury has transcended science fiction and
>has become literature.

Don't you mean "decayed into literature"?  I wouldn't put what is commonly
known as "literature" above good SF...ever.

In woodworking circles there are folks who make chairs that you can sit on,
and folks who make chairs that you can sit on that look good.  Then there
are the folks who have taken it into the realm of "art", and they tend to
build things that represent the true chairness of the chair, or which
embody that which is essential to all furniture boiled down to essentials,
or some other hogwash.  I call it hogwash, because in doing what they have
done they have forgotten the most important thing about a chair: that you
be able to sit on it.  Some of the abominations they've come up with, which
have won awards in shows, don't allow that, whether in comfort or
not.  Some would collapse if anyone was foolish enough to try it, and some
don't even have a place to try it.  Most of these take great skill to
produce, as the techniques needed aren't easy, but that same skill could be
better used to produce something useful if you ask me.

It's the same with most "literature" that I've encountered.  It may take
great skill to produce, and those who like that sort of thing may go on
about it for hours, and sneer at other writing that is only good for
entertaining, educating, or other useful purposes, but IMO its forgotten
what a story is supposed to be for...unlike those forms the literary snobs
sneer at.  All it is useful for is letting literary snobs feel superior as
far as I can see.

-- Mike B.