tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21999805.post926838006623731634..comments2024-03-27T06:25:29.002-05:00Comments on Anecdotal Evidence: 'There Was a Best Way of Saying Anything'Patrick Kurphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08436175583386298032noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21999805.post-53213965618122913082019-07-21T18:35:24.716-05:002019-07-21T18:35:24.716-05:00Putting aside all the race-class-gender stuff peop...Putting aside all the race-class-gender stuff people talk about nowadays, the real wedge issue among readers and writers of good will is science fiction and fantasy. There are good writers and smart people on both sides of the issue. The people (like me) who do not appreciate science fiction and fantasy are horrified by the enormous cultural space it now occupies, and the people who like it (apparently) can't get enough of it. This could become one of those issues that ends friendships.Fazehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01396363799545495907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21999805.post-24360420725379864562019-07-21T09:50:52.700-05:002019-07-21T09:50:52.700-05:00Science fiction was the genre of my pre-teen &...Science fiction was the genre of my pre-teen & teenage years. I lost my taste for it when I went to law school, & always attributed that to the training I got in reading cases. You learn to argue with the text, which makes it hard to countenance foolishness. <br /><br />In my late 60s, I started revisiting the genre. What I found was a greatly expanded universe of speculative fiction. Lots of dreck, but here & there a jewel. The City and The City by China MiƩville, for instance, The Three Body Problem series by Liu Cixin, and a couple of things by Michael Chabon. And there's still & always Stanislaw Lem. <br /><br />One does not read Science Fiction for the literary experience, but rather, for imaginative engagement with possibility. There's one flavor of that for your youth, and perhaps a different one for your age. Harmonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06751974752949180937noreply@blogger.com