Question:
I've gone back to college to finish up my long-delayed English degree.
That is, if I don't wind up flunking English first.
I had a quick talk with my prof tonight. It's a course on the
contemporary
novel, we're reading lots of recent stuff (Nabokov,
Moody...), and each class member must
give a presentation on a novel. I wound up with Steve Erickson's
Days Between Stations, which bills itself as being set in
post-apocalyptic LA.
"Sounds like science fiction to me, and I enjoy science fiction."
"Oh, but it's not science fiction," the professor insisted.
"It's not about science."
My lack of tact prevented me from trying to make a quick
and to-the-point argument. I just said nothing but got into the
mechanics of what she wanted.
Still, I'm quite sure at least a part of my presentation will focus on
the
fact that, yes, this is a science fiction novel, and just because it may
be
a genre novel doesn't mean it's garbage.
Answer:
But remember that it's all a matter of definition. Her definition differs
from yours. At least she didn't fall into the old "it's good, so it can't be
science fiction."
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