On Genre & Fanworks
So I was reading this article, which is a conversation between Neil Gaiman and Kazuo Ishiguro about genre and writing.
They are two of my favourite authors, and if you haven't read anything by them you should go and do so at once :).
Anyway, I had some thoughts:
Gaiman writes almost exclusively fantasy. Fascinating, dark stories with intricate depths. Ishiguro is generally seen as more of a realist. He writes about people; about memory, time and the tricks of perception.
But Ishiguro has been 'moving genres'. His most recent book is set in what is practically a fantasy world. So, does this matter?
Well, to me, not really. What matters is the beauty of the writing and the interest of the plot, themes, and characters. So does it matter if a book is written not only for adults but also for children? As Gaiman says here, not really.
This applies to Gaiman's children's books, but also to things like Harry Potter and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. People are starting to care less that a book has been aimed at an audience they do not consider themselves part of, and this applies to genre divides such as fantasy as well as Children's/Adults' novels.
Also, there is some interesting stuff about transformative works in there. Including Shakespeare. A reminder to all my fanficcy friends (which is basically all of you): Shakespeare wrote fanfic.
That is what his plays are. We are in excellent company, my friends.
They are two of my favourite authors, and if you haven't read anything by them you should go and do so at once :).
Anyway, I had some thoughts:
Gaiman writes almost exclusively fantasy. Fascinating, dark stories with intricate depths. Ishiguro is generally seen as more of a realist. He writes about people; about memory, time and the tricks of perception.
But Ishiguro has been 'moving genres'. His most recent book is set in what is practically a fantasy world. So, does this matter?
Well, to me, not really. What matters is the beauty of the writing and the interest of the plot, themes, and characters. So does it matter if a book is written not only for adults but also for children? As Gaiman says here, not really.
This applies to Gaiman's children's books, but also to things like Harry Potter and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. People are starting to care less that a book has been aimed at an audience they do not consider themselves part of, and this applies to genre divides such as fantasy as well as Children's/Adults' novels.
Also, there is some interesting stuff about transformative works in there. Including Shakespeare. A reminder to all my fanficcy friends (which is basically all of you): Shakespeare wrote fanfic.
That is what his plays are. We are in excellent company, my friends.