Demesnedenoir
Myth Weaver
No not really, though there can be an argument for it. Literary implies a certain quality that (coincidentally or not) character-driven or even plotless books fall into. Some of it is also a reaction to "pulp fiction" and its popularity to set things a class apart.
One author who recently transitioned from pulp to literary due to time is Tolkien. The Hobbit was a kids book, and so was Lord of the Rings... Nobody serious reads that drivel. Well, it turns out that serious people do read it and kept reading it until the snobs could no longer ignore LoTR.
An example of two authors who are at the ends of the spectrum, both of whom can be found solidly in Genre categories, are James Patterson and Thomas Harris. Patterson will never run the risk of being called literary by the snobs, I would guess. Harris, on the other hand, with Silence of the Lambs, at least, could easily be considered literary.
One could also go a step farther, and this might be correct, by saying there is something called "Literary Fiction" and then there are Genre books that earn the Literary... so, Literary Romance, Literary Fantasy, Literary Thriller, etc. with Literary Fiction being literary works that fall outside of genre.
One author who recently transitioned from pulp to literary due to time is Tolkien. The Hobbit was a kids book, and so was Lord of the Rings... Nobody serious reads that drivel. Well, it turns out that serious people do read it and kept reading it until the snobs could no longer ignore LoTR.
An example of two authors who are at the ends of the spectrum, both of whom can be found solidly in Genre categories, are James Patterson and Thomas Harris. Patterson will never run the risk of being called literary by the snobs, I would guess. Harris, on the other hand, with Silence of the Lambs, at least, could easily be considered literary.
One could also go a step farther, and this might be correct, by saying there is something called "Literary Fiction" and then there are Genre books that earn the Literary... so, Literary Romance, Literary Fantasy, Literary Thriller, etc. with Literary Fiction being literary works that fall outside of genre.
Istar
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