Notes from Evil Bender

Amanda reviews Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, and it’s worth a read (though if you haven’t read the book already, save some trouble and just read it right now. Now!). I only have one thing to add to her review. She writes

[American Gods] was certainly out of my usual realm of reading, but it got wildly good reviews, so I thought I’d check it out. Reading fantasy is a little hard on me, because my literary snob knee jerk reaction, which I had a few times during this book—I’m more used to reading stuff where characterization and language are priorities over plot and premise, so shifting gears is a bit hard.

I know that it’s hard for many of us who read to much to escape this particular issue, but I find it suprising here, mainly because Gaiman’s prose is fluid and well-crafted. It’s not particularly daunting, but there’s nothing wrong with that. As for characterization, I’d ask those who have read the book to judge for themselves.

I understand the anti-fantasy bias. Most fantasy lit is crap. Then again, most “literary fiction” is crap too. Most poetry, crap. Most nonfiction, crap. I don’t mean to be a snob, but perhaps I am one. My larger concern, though, is not crap (shocking, I know), but that we can become to enamored of genre.* I’ve never really understood what the dividing lines between genres are, and I’ve spent a great amount of personal and professional energy on just that subject. But in the end, I don’t think the distinctions are helpful. Something is well-written or not, insightful or not, of artistic merit or not. Lines between “literary” and “popular” fiction are useless, as are lines between, say, “porn” and “erotica.”

Which brings me to a larger question: to what extent should we accept work on its own merits, and to what extent can we critique it for failing at a goal that it did not attempt?

But I’ll leave that question for you to consider, at least for the moment. For now, it’s time to get off the soapbox and STFU. You can thank me at your leisure. ;)

* I’m not trying to pick on Amanda, who’s among the best and most thoughtful writers in the blogosphere. I’m guilty of the same biases she’s describing, and I’m only interested in trying to understand them.