What this guy said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by PKFFW
What it boils down to, I think, is that great writing will rise above the genre it is generally defined within. Orwell, Bradbury etc were great writers and therefore so much more than simplistic science fiction themes can be gotten from their works. This does not negate the science fiction themes that are there though and therefore the label of science fiction is valid if one is inclined to label them in the first place.
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[edited for space]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Moejoe
Orwell, and I'll say this again, in my analysis, does not fit into these genres either. Neither does Joyce, or to take an author who many believe to be science-fiction, neither does Ray Bradbury. Once they break the expectations of genre (any genre), then genre no longer can be applied to said writer.
My rule of thumb is quite simple nowadays, if I don't know what to expect when I pick up the book and still don't know what to expect after a page or so, then I'll continue reading. Literary merit or otherwise, the book has to surprise me in some way, and that way is very rarely going to be with genre any more (just by dent of experience).
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I think your wording is misleading, and I still think labeling works into genres is a good idea, but I agree with you.
In a nutshell, it sounds like you rebel against labeling works. It also sounds like you just like 'good writing'. In your mind, you've made the connection that anything put into a neat little genre is automatically 'bad writing'. I believe works can span multiple genres, and putting it into a genre doesn't make it bad. (Think of Gmail smart tags, where you can endlessly tag something to a genre
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Labeling with genres is just a way to, as you said, make the books more marketable. That's the ONLY purpose that genres serve. If I know I like science fiction, I will probably like other science fiction works. The rub is that there is a LOT of dreck out there. I've read so many bad fantasy novels (or something that, in your words, doesn't 'transcend the genre') that I no longer read anything from that genre unless it's specifically recommended to me. But I don't believe that all fantasy is bad. Likewise, I tend not to enjoy mystery novels because I find them formulaic. This isn't to say they're bad because they belong to a genre, just that I don't typically find them appealing.
In all my not-very-many years, I can wisely say that I won't avoid something because it's labeled to a genre. But as I age, I rely more and more upon word-of-mouth recommendations and in-depth reviews than I do genre categories for selecting books to read.