|
Genre is like the aisles in the grocery store. It's a useful way to keep things organized. If you're looking for the applies, you probably don't expect to find them near the pasta. That doesn't mean everyone is going to agree what goes where. When I shop at a new grocery, it sometimes is confusing, because while many items unambiguously belong in a certain section, some items placement is more subjective. Subgenre (hard science fiction, space opera, etc) can be more ambiguous, becuase things can fall into more than one category. One of my favorite episodes of Star Trek: TNG is "Measure of a Man" where Data is on trial to see if he is a person or property. Star Trek does have some space opera aspects, but this episode is very hard science fiction. Space opera isn't necessarily something opposed to hard science fiction, it can be both. Star Trek isn't Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers.
Classic is hard to define. I look at a classic as a book that has stood the test of time, people are still reading it many decades after it was published. I look at Literature as anything written with words.
|