Norman Spinrad
Author profile
born
September 15, 1940
in New York, The United States
genre
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Bug Jack Barron
— published 1968 — 18 editions |
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The Iron Dream
— published 1972 — 13 editions |
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Child of Fortune
— published 1985 — 5 editions |
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The Void Captain's Tale
— published 1982 — 9 editions |
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Little Heroes
— published 1987 — 4 editions |
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Agent of Chaos
by Norman Spinrad, Barry N. Malzberg — published 1967 — 12 editions |
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Russian Spring
— published 1991 — 7 editions |
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The Men in the Jungle
— published 1966 — 8 editions |
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Other Americas
— published 1988 |
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Songs from the Stars
— published 1980 — 5 editions |
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“The saddest day of your life isn't when you decide to sell out. The saddest day of your life is when you decide to sell out and nobody wants to buy.”
― Norman Spinrad
― Norman Spinrad
“We shall give up the things of childhood --
gods and demons, planets and suns, guilts and regrets.”
― Norman Spinrad, Riding the Torch
gods and demons, planets and suns, guilts and regrets.”
― Norman Spinrad, Riding the Torch
“Cat Rambo: Where do you think the perennial debate between what is literary fiction and what is genre is sited?
Norman Spinrad: I think it’s a load of crap. See my latest column in Asimov’s, particularly re The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I detest the whole concept of genre. A piece of fiction is either a good story well told or it isn’t. The supposed dichotomy between “literary fiction” and “popular fiction” is ridiculous. Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Mailer, did not have serious literary intent? As writers of serious literary intent, they didn’t want to be “popular,” meaning sell a lot of books? They wanted to be unpopular and have terrible sales figures to prove they were “serious”?
I say this is bullshit and I say the hell with it. “Genre,” if it means anything at all, is a restrictive commercial requirement. “Westerns” must be set in the Old West. “Mysteries” must have a detective solving a crime, usually murder. “Nurse Novels” must have a nurse. And so forth.
In the strictly literary sense, neither science fiction nor fantasy are “genres.” They are anti-genres. They can be set anywhere and anywhen except in the mimetic here and now or a real historical period. They are the liberation of fiction from the constraints of “genre” in an absolute literary sense.”
― Norman Spinrad
Norman Spinrad: I think it’s a load of crap. See my latest column in Asimov’s, particularly re The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I detest the whole concept of genre. A piece of fiction is either a good story well told or it isn’t. The supposed dichotomy between “literary fiction” and “popular fiction” is ridiculous. Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Mailer, did not have serious literary intent? As writers of serious literary intent, they didn’t want to be “popular,” meaning sell a lot of books? They wanted to be unpopular and have terrible sales figures to prove they were “serious”?
I say this is bullshit and I say the hell with it. “Genre,” if it means anything at all, is a restrictive commercial requirement. “Westerns” must be set in the Old West. “Mysteries” must have a detective solving a crime, usually murder. “Nurse Novels” must have a nurse. And so forth.
In the strictly literary sense, neither science fiction nor fantasy are “genres.” They are anti-genres. They can be set anywhere and anywhen except in the mimetic here and now or a real historical period. They are the liberation of fiction from the constraints of “genre” in an absolute literary sense.”
― Norman Spinrad
Polls
Topics Mentioning This Author
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Alternative W...: Talk About Dystopian books list/Or Dystopia in general | 101 | 23 | Sep 14, 2009 08:23am | |
| Beyond Reality: Nominations for March! | 30 | 60 | Dec 21, 2009 09:06am | |
| The Seasonal Read...: Spring Challenge 2010 Completed Tasks | 2750 | 2216 | May 31, 2010 09:00pm | |
| SciFi and Fantasy...: May Sci-Fi Theme -- Alternate History | 44 | 235 | Feb 21, 2011 01:38pm | |
| The Sword and Laser: Top favorite authors! | 134 | 557 | Mar 06, 2011 02:38pm | |
| SciFi and Fantasy...: Vietnam Parallels *spoilers* | 33 | 62 | Mar 20, 2011 02:48pm | |
| Fantasy Book Club: What books have you read over and over and over and.... | 167 | 463 | Nov 22, 2011 10:35am | |
| The Sword and Laser: Female SciFi Leads | 51 | 229 | Apr 03, 2012 07:47pm |
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