Cant enjoy fiction anymore :( Why is this Happening?

[Johanna]

You have a very different definition of science fiction and fantasy than most people, I can tell you that. Actually, those who are really into either of those genres would laugh in your face if you presented it to them.

X-Men... It's a superhero comic, you can't really place it as either science fiction or fantasy, it's a genre of its own which draws heavily from both, and often switches between them depending on the adventure. Same really goes for Heroes, although it's a TV series emulating that style.

But it must be nice living in that bubble where you can tell yourself that only science fiction is serious literature, placing yourself above fantasy readers

Btw, by your definiton Discworld would be science fiction It's probing our society through a parallell crazy world.. Or rather, our world does exist within its multiverse, and is created by wizards.

[johntm]

Who gives a fuck? Just read books, don't debate on the internet on how to classify them.

[Bao]

Well, my impression is that bad sci-fi authors are in fact fantasy authors. A "sci-fi" author who lacks that provocative component has to revert to fantasy since it's a less demanding genre with a younger fan crowd. Think about it, has there ever been good sci-fi adapted for the teenage mass? I can't think of something specific example at the moment, "sci-fi" for teenagers tend to be "technology fantasy" (like Star Wars). Compare with, e.g., Harry Potter in the fantasy genre - I had just become an adult when the Harry Potter was published so I completely missed it but it was apparently very succesful in the teenage cohort. No, since sci-fi is too demanding for a teenage mass crowd.

What I generally experience as 'bad sci-fi' are stories that involve a united earth government and war against an alien species, befitting the popular self-image of the USA during the Cold War era. Stories that gain their setting from a strong belief in progress and what I think of as a naive view of human nature. Bad fantasy stories usually have a similarly simplistic good vs evil, the good one is the underdog but wins against the odds because he's our hero setting.
And, of course, bad stories often are stories that show little original thought. One doesn't have to read a lot to understand the conventions of a genre, and once readers have figured that out they generally want deliberate violation of those conventions that actually manage to surprise them and possibly stretch their imagination (but not too much, usually.)

[Hunef]

My final trolling post in this thread.

You have a very different definition of science fiction and fantasy than most people, I can tell you that.

I'm not "most people", you know.

Actually, those who are really into either of those genres would laugh in your face if you presented it to them.

Yes, that's why I'm not part of any specific community; I'm used to people laughing in my face, though, so that's not a problem. (OK, it feels like they laugh in my face, in reality they just ignore me, I know.)

X-Men... It's a superhero comic, you can't really place it as either science fiction or fantasy, it's a genre of its own which draws heavily from both, and often switches between them depending on the adventure. Same really goes for Heroes, although it's a TV series emulating that style.

That explains why I fell asleep watching X-Men.

But it must be nice living in that bubble where you can tell yourself that only science fiction is serious literature, placing yourself above fantasy readers

Well, I'm placing myself above all, not above a mere specific subclass of humanoids of any species.

Btw, by your definiton Discworld would be science fiction It's probing our society through a parallell crazy world.. Or rather, our world does exist within its multiverse, and is created by wizards.

Fine, then it's sci-fi. I'll look it up, maybe I've got time to read books again when I've retired from work in some 40 years or so. (Damn, I've only read 200 pages in a book I borrowed at the library three months ago. That's one third of my normal reading speed.)

What I generally experience as 'bad sci-fi' are stories that involve a united earth government and war against an alien species, [...]

I usually fetch a can of gasoline and a match when I realize the story I read contains intelligent extraterrestrial beings.

[Bao]

What I generally experience as 'bad sci-fi' are stories that involve a united earth government and war against an alien species, [...]

I usually fetch a can of gasoline and a match when I realize the story I read contains intelligent extraterrestrial beings.

They don't even have to be intelligent, there's this entire subgenre with super virulent extraterrestial diseases and parasites that also fits the stereotype.

[Varislintu]

I see.

Nope, you don't.

So if it doesn't happen on Earth it's fantasy? What about space? What about imaginary space, like a terraformed Mars or an earthlike colonised planet?

You miss the point, Varislintu.

I'm just trying very hard to see your definition as something else than "literature I like and value is (good) sci-fi, while literature that I don't like or value is fantasy or bad sci-fi" ...

Well, my impression is that bad sci-fi authors are in fact fantasy authors.

... Because you sure make it sound like that .

A "sci-fi" author who lacks that provocative component has to revert to fantasy since it's a less demanding genre with a younger fan crowd.

I'm still confused how we got here from "imaginative". I guess instead of trying to map out your definition of fantasy or sci-fi, I should go back to your definition of imaginative, which oddly seems to be "provocative and applicable to our own society". I don't subscribe to the same definition for it .

Think about it, has there ever been good sci-fi adapted for the teenage mass?

That's kind of a trick question, since you used the word "good". You did define X-men and Heroes as sci-fi, but I guess I can't argue that they are an example, because you seem to find them bad sci-fi, which is fantasy to you .

No, since sci-fi is too demanding for a teenage mass crowd.

It's true that fantasy is much more accessible to people. (In my opinion sci-fi is a much more narrow genre with consequently a narrower fan-base.) Most childrens movies are fantasy, it seems (at least the animated ones). But I can enjoy the imaginativeness of children's movies because my definition of imaginative is different from yours.

[Johanna]

I remember a lot of science fiction TV series for kids from when I was one. Sure, they focused more on the adventure of it all, but still very much grounded in our reality, just in the future, or today but with some secret technology that the public didn't know about.

Today it seems to be more about vampires or witches and wizards though, I guess we have Twilight and Harry Potter to thank for that.

[thosewords]

I lost my passion for fiction too. Partly because of school and all of these tests on books that I didn't even like. And in addition, a book needs to be engaging right off the bat for me. Many fiction books don't do that for me.

[IpseDixit]

I do not agree with people who say that's because you're growing up. The equation adult = nonfiction is utterly nonsensical, otherwise nobody would read Proust, Tolstoj, Manzoni, Joyce, just to name a few... Maybe it's just because right now your brain demands something different, I wouldn't worry too much about that.

[johnklepac]

I do not agree with people who say that's because you're growing up. The equation adult = nonfiction is utterly nonsensical, otherwise nobody would read Proust, Tolstoj, Manzoni, Joyce, just to name a few... Maybe it's just because right now your brain demands something different, I wouldn't worry too much about that.

Add my vote to the pile. The desire for escapist literature seems to tie in well to the archetypal midlife crisis and miscellaneous adult loneliness.

[linguoboy]

Add my vote to the pile. The desire for escapist literature seems to tie in well to the archetypal midlife crisis and miscellaneous adult loneliness.

You know who reads the "escapist" literature in our happily-partnered household? The man who's ABD in comp lit and retiring at the end of the year. It's the 40-something in the midst of a mid-life crisis who's reading Joyce, Pasternak, and Flaubert.

IME, to the extent that a taste for "escapism" in fiction correlates with anything beyond personal preference, it's seems dependent on how challenging your life is. He has a tougher job than me; when he gets home, he just wants to read something that will help him unwind before bed. I'm often bored during the day; when I sit down to read, I want something that will engage and stimulate me. One of my friends with a similar job reads a lot of challenging non-fiction; she's even researching her own book on a serial murderer. When she was waitressing, all she had the energy to do when she came home was watch television.

It's the same when it comes to movies. Who wants to watch feel-good comedies and Bollywood musicals? Him. Who prefers bleak artsy films and foreign psychological thrillers? Me.

[johnklepac]

It's the same when it comes to movies. Who wants to watch feel-good comedies and Bollywood musicals? Him. Who prefers bleak artsy films and foreign psychological thrillers? Me.

Your tastes seem more "escapist" to me, insofar as they're less realistic on average.

[linguoboy]

It's the same when it comes to movies. Who wants to watch feel-good comedies and Bollywood musicals? Him. Who prefers bleak artsy films and foreign psychological thrillers? Me.

Your tastes seem more "escapist" to me, insofar as they're less realistic on average.

Um...what?

Have you ever seen a Bollywood film? "Realistic" is not a word which comes to mind. At all.

[johnklepac]

Um...what?

Have you ever seen a Bollywood film? "Realistic" is not a word which comes to mind. At all.

I've seen a couple. Compared to bleak artsy films and psychological thrillers? Yeah, it does come to my mind, assuming we're going on what actually happens rather than how it's presented.

[Varislintu]

IME, to the extent that a taste for "escapism" in fiction correlates with anything beyond personal preference, it's seems dependent on how challenging your life is.

I think this is true.

When I was working on my Master's thesis, I was so mentally exhausted I couldn't concentrate on any level of fiction, really. I stopped reading. Now I'm working fiction back into my life with a kind of soft start. I selected two shorter, lighter works to begin with, Tove Jansson's Summer Book (in Swedish), and a 100 page Russian novel called Sonetjka (Swedish translitteration) by Ljudmila Ulitskaja. Nothing too challenging. Then I was planning to read a New Weird short story collection. Then, hopefully, I'll have proven to myself I can still concentrate on a task as immersive as reading for leisure, that I can already let go of that nagging feeling that I should constantly be doing something else (the thesis), and start on one of the enticing full length novels that are waiting in the bookshelf.

[IpseDixit]

Have you ever seen a Bollywood film? "Realistic" is not a word which comes to mind. At all.

I watched one Bollywood movie, the first word that didn't come to my mind at all was actors...

[mōdgethanc]

I've seen a couple. Compared to bleak artsy films and psychological thrillers? Yeah, it does come to my mind, assuming we're going on what actually happens rather than how it's presented.

Sorry, I'm not buying that plots about true love, divine intervention and colourful song-and-dance sequences in the middle of the village square are more realistic than The Silence of the Lambs. What psychological thrillers were you thinking of, exactly?