Comments on: What is ‘literary fiction’ anyway?

By: Monthly Wrap-Up – May 2021 – Stephen Writes

Monthly Wrap-Up – May 2021 – Stephen Writes — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 09:01:03 +0000

[…] NS Ford asked a very interesting question – what actually is literary fiction? […]

By: nsford

nsford — Sun, 30 May 2021 17:43:16 +0000

In reply to Stephen Writes. Thanks! Ha ha. Everyone has an opinion on this. Interesting that it could be a sub-genre. I agree that the content is the main thing, otherwise literary fiction is a meaningless label. You are right, the snobbery is a factor - and judging a book's literary merit is really subjective.

By: Stephen Writes

Stephen Writes — Sun, 30 May 2021 17:13:35 +0000

Oh I love this discussion! I consider literary fiction as more of a sub-genre, second to the actual content of the book (e.g. whether it is a mystery or historical etc). While these books are thought-provoking and there are many that I really like, I struggle to buy in to the theory that they contain more literary merit than commercial fiction. It instead suggests a potential degree of snobbery within the industry.

By: nsford

nsford — Sun, 23 May 2021 20:08:19 +0000

In reply to nualacharlie. Yes, literary fiction would end up in the general fiction section. Aha yes, everything on the longlist must be literature or it is not worth reading :D

By: nualacharlie

nualacharlie — Sun, 23 May 2021 12:03:31 +0000

I have never noticed a Literary Fiction section in my local library so it’s not a particularly useful category. I guess if it ends up in the Booker longlist then it qualifies as Literature 😉

By: nsford

nsford — Fri, 21 May 2021 22:33:59 +0000

In reply to stargazer. Thank you! :) I think your comments make a lot of sense! Genre is a problem by itself, because we expect certain kinds of book when they are labelled as such, yet if there were no labels at all then it wouldn't be helpful either. I agree about the elitism, it is suggesting that some books are more worthy than others and that only people of certain backgrounds/iintellects would enjoy them. I think everything written is literature but I am still confused as to not everything being 'literary'.

By: stargazer

stargazer — Fri, 21 May 2021 21:33:43 +0000

Great post! I agree literary fiction isn’t a genre, since you can find genre fiction which is also classified as literary fiction. However, after having thought about it, I decided that I don’t like that label and have stopped completely using it on my blog. First of all, it does have some sort of “elite” ring to it and secondly, I don’t think there is a clear definition and I certainly don’t want to judge whether a specific book is literary fiction or not.

By: nsford

nsford — Tue, 18 May 2021 18:24:11 +0000

In reply to Darina. Thank you! :) I think you're right, it is more of a publisher/agent/retailer label, more than the consumers might use.

By: Darina

Darina — Tue, 18 May 2021 18:21:04 +0000

Interesting post! I agree that it isn’t really a genre although it tends to be perceived as one more and more. If a book is tagged as literary fiction it’s usually done so by the publishers to try and attract more readers but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is higher quality. You have certainly made me think and I’ll be looking out more for this term whenever I browse books!

By: nsford

nsford — Tue, 18 May 2021 17:11:26 +0000

In reply to Jess @ beyondthefrontcover.

Thanks very much! 🙂 I’m glad you agree – everyone has, so far! We should all read what we want to – you are right 😀