I think anybody who quotes Kafka as much as Mieville does at least belongs in the litfic conversation, but maybe we're just throwing definitions past each other without really connecting.
White Teeth is awesome; so is On Beauty--but note that Smith and Rushdie aren't your typical 30-something white male Americans.
Um... what exactly is your retort about 30 something white male Americans refuting? I made no claim that they are 30 something white male Americans. Surely being a 30 something white male is not a requirement for your writing to be litfic. My definition of litfic is broad; my taste tends toward the people who know how to have fun with the stuff, regardless of race or gender.
So I don't quite disagree with you, but most of these people are at the edge rather than the mainstream of litfic.
Since litfic isn't so much a genre as a pretension, I don't know that there is necessarily a mainstream. If there is, though, I doubt I'd be interested in it. I'm rarely one for the mainstream. I'm just pointing out that here on the edges I'm having a blast.
For what it's worth, I think Chabon's early fiction does a better job with female characters than his more recent stuff. Phlox in The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is probably his best female character. It's been sort of downhill from there, though Bina rang deeply true for me.
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regna
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Date: 2010-05-24 00:29 (UTC)White Teeth is awesome; so is On Beauty--but note that Smith and Rushdie aren't your typical 30-something white male Americans.
Um... what exactly is your retort about 30 something white male Americans refuting? I made no claim that they are 30 something white male Americans. Surely being a 30 something white male is not a requirement for your writing to be litfic. My definition of litfic is broad; my taste tends toward the people who know how to have fun with the stuff, regardless of race or gender.
So I don't quite disagree with you, but most of these people are at the edge rather than the mainstream of litfic.
Since litfic isn't so much a genre as a pretension, I don't know that there is necessarily a mainstream. If there is, though, I doubt I'd be interested in it. I'm rarely one for the mainstream. I'm just pointing out that here on the edges I'm having a blast.
For what it's worth, I think Chabon's early fiction does a better job with female characters than his more recent stuff. Phlox in The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is probably his best female character. It's been sort of downhill from there, though Bina rang deeply true for me.