In my mind, if a book wants to be considered non-fiction it must be one hundred percent true. If a story with bent truths is being passed off as a book that is non-fiction, then I feel like I am being lied to and as the great Oprah Winfrey put it “duped”. I think a solution to stopping things like this from happening is making the sub-genre of “memoir” more specific by classifying completely true stories as non-fiction memoirs and half true stories “novels that are based on a true story”.
Personally, I do feel that half truths that have good stories are alright. My issue is their classification. I think that you shouldn’t take something, and call it something else that is wrong. For example, what if I took a soccer ball and sold it as a football to people who don’t know it isn’t a football. Then I said that they both have “ball” in their descriptions so they are pretty much the same thing. People would say I’m a person who lies, so why do authors get to do this?
How should should we incorporate Literary Fiction and Genre Fiction in our current school system?
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Monday, May 14, 2012
Post #6 READICIDE
I feel that Gallagher’s argument is very true. I do feel that schools are killing children’s love for reading. To solve this issue I think we should stop teaching the classics exclusively and adopt Gallagher’s idea of teaching genre fiction fifty percent of the time and literary fiction the other fifty percent of the time. To expand on this idea I think that we should pair a classic with a genre fiction novel and use to the two to compare and contrast styles of writing, ideas portrayed, etc. This could help give children an appreciation for the art that literary fiction is and the entertainment value found in genre fiction.
I think that genre fiction shouldn’t be undervalued when compared to literary fiction. I think that they both should be held to the same standards. I understand that literary fiction may be harder to write and more of an art form, but this shouldn’t mean that genre fiction is overlooked. For one, genre fiction usually has a better plot and story than most literary fiction. For all we know someone who can write good literary fiction couldn’t write an entertaining and interesting story as well a genre fiction writer can. On the flipside, a genre fiction writer may not be able to write a story that is rich in detail like a literary fiction author can. Another reason that genre fiction has the same value as literary fiction is that they both have their strong a weak points. Genre fiction does a good job of being relevant, enjoyable, entertaining, etc., while it can be lacking in terms of writing craft. Literary fiction is strong in terms of writing craft, having a lasting effect on society, conveying strong messages, etc., meanwhile it may be lacking in being relatable to modern readers and being as entertaining.
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