TBotNS = The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
Yeah, the list is nonsense to be honest, written by someone who either hasn't read much science fiction, or who is dazzled by pretentious reputation.
If 'literary' means well-written, with depth and secondary meaning, then there are heaps not on this list, and some on there that don't deserve to be.
Ubik is inventive and strange, but that doesn't make it literary. PKD's alternate history novel The Man in the High Castle is a lot more 'literary' according to common definition. Aldiss' Hothouse could be there, or perhaps Greybeard. Ballard is "literary" surely - where's he? I'd say some of M. John Harrison's work should qualify. Mervyn Peak? Gene Wolfe deserves inclusion. I would also include Silverberg (either Dying Inside, The Stochastic Man or A Time of Changes) and I think John Wyndham wrote well, with depth too. And Simak wouldn't perhaps have sought the accolade of being 'literary' but his best work comes mighty close that's for sure.
Yeah, the list is nonsense to be honest, written by someone who either hasn't read much science fiction, or who is dazzled by pretentious reputation.
If 'literary' means well-written, with depth and secondary meaning, then there are heaps not on this list, and some on there that don't deserve to be.
Ubik is inventive and strange, but that doesn't make it literary. PKD's alternate history novel The Man in the High Castle is a lot more 'literary' according to common definition. Aldiss' Hothouse could be there, or perhaps Greybeard. Ballard is "literary" surely - where's he? I'd say some of M. John Harrison's work should qualify. Mervyn Peak? Gene Wolfe deserves inclusion. I would also include Silverberg (either Dying Inside, The Stochastic Man or A Time of Changes) and I think John Wyndham wrote well, with depth too. And Simak wouldn't perhaps have sought the accolade of being 'literary' but his best work comes mighty close that's for sure.
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