Welcome to my (mostly) science fiction and fantasy blog. Here you will find reviews of both new and old books, episode breakdowns of TV shows, film reviews, and also some of my own stories and screenplays.
Welcome to my (mostly) science fiction and fantasy blog. Here you will find reviews of both new and old books, episode breakdowns of TV shows, film reviews, and also some of my own stories and screenplays.
I'll bite - what links these 20?
ReplyDeleteWell it was set to be a dissertation contrasting old SF&F against new SF&F, looking at the theory that newer works are less thought-provoking and ideas-based than works of old (plus a literary element also being lost in this shift). The idea was to go onto argue that this is one major cause of the general negative perceptions held against SF&F from outsiders, which is the main topic of my dissertation.
ReplyDeleteBut I found the 'shift' theory to be pretty unfounded in the end and thus not worth pursuing. The dissertation is now solely a look at perceptions on SF&F, looking at other causes instead of this one.
The above 20 is simply (and boringly I'm afraid) what was left for me to read of a larger list I compiled, of works that I felt best reflected the theory; the intention being to compare the old selections with the new selections to illustrate my point.
Mieville was in there prominently since I thought he might be an exception to the rule, since he has been likened often to several literary greats (Kafka, Orwell and others) - the theory being that he retains the lost literary quality while others don't - and some have said he 'is reshaping modern fantasy'.
But as I said, all that's dropped now. I'll still review them all anyway once I get around to reading them.
Sorry there's not a more exciting link between them than that. It was more just meant to be a list of what reviews are to come.
Thanks for the interest.