Question about that debate on genre fiction vs literary fiction at my book club last night

So we had this big discussion at our meetup in Denver. This one member, Sarah, said she refuses to read anything labeled 'genre' because it's 'just entertainment' and not 'real literature.' She used Stephen King as an example. I brought up that King has won the National Book Award and she just waved it off. Has anyone else dealt with this kind of gatekeeping in their group? How do you even respond to that without it turning into a fight?

2 comments

2 Comments

evan_cooper738d ago

She really said a National Book Award winner isn't "real literature"? That's wild to me, like what more do you want the guy to do?

the_susan8d ago

Used to be on Sarah's side actually. Read all literary fiction in college and looked down on genre stuff. Then I picked up a Terry Pratchett book on a whim and it completely changed how I think about storytelling. Good writing is good writing no matter what shelf it sits on.