Tag Archives: literary fiction

We are all pornographers now

Apparently, it’s that time of the year again. Time for another go-around of the eternal fight of literary versus genre fiction, cheered on as usual by critics rather than writers. In the past few weeks, Zone One by Colson Whitehead, … Continue reading

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Away – and an awards mishap

First of all, I wanted to let you all know that I’ll be in Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK from tomorrow until Monday. I don’t know how frequent my internet connection will be, so there will be only sporadic … Continue reading

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Salman Rushdie is being controversial again, the Booker Prize shortlist is too readable and a headline from a parallel universe

In a lengthy interview with the Israeli newspaper Haaretz Salman Rushdie talked about a lot of things such as the fatwah against him, the persecution of writers worldwide, the Arab Spring, the upcoming film adaption of Midnight’s Children – oh … Continue reading

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Margaret Atwood does not hate science fiction

At the Guardian, Margaret Atwood talks about science fiction and speculative fiction, utopias and dystopias and how she views her own work. This should hopefully put all of those “Margaret Atwood hates science fiction and thinks it’s all just crap … Continue reading

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Linkdump, mostly German literature themed

The 2011 German Book Award, which was created to be Germany’s answer to the Man-Booker Prize and the Prix Goncourt, goes to Eugen Ruge for his novel In Zeiten des abnehmenden Lichts, which is a multi-generation family saga set against … Continue reading

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Literature and capitalism, the trouble with romances, yet more gender bias in SFF, good writing advice and some dentistry, too, for good measure

I had to take my Dad to the dentist today and pick him up again. He is getting implants, which were inserted under general anaesthesia, so he couldn’t drive. He was pretty woozy afterwards – I very much had to … Continue reading

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The British riots and their reflection in contemporary British pop culture

Slate has an article on the British riots (well, English, since there was no rioting in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), with a headline claiming that British writers and filmmakers had foreseen the social gap that would eventually break open … Continue reading

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Class in British literature and popular culture – now with bonus Farscape

Apparently, the recent sociological tome on Chavs by seems to have reached the other side of the Atlantic, for the New York Times offers not just a review but an excerpt as well.

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Point of view, the T-V distinction and the Ingeborg Bachmann prize

This is the post I had drafted and intended to post yesterday, before that Strunk and White business diverted my attention. It is long and full of technical details regarding linguistics, narrative perspective and contemporary German literature: The 2011 Ingeborg … Continue reading

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More on the controversial topics of the day

There are several controversies going on at the moment, so here is a round-up of interesting discussions and challenging links:

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