See, I don't think quoting Kafka automatically excludes someone from SFF. Undoubtedly Miéville has written books that flirt with other genres (The City & the City being Exhibit A), but his books are still shelved in the SFF section at the local big box--and with good reason, I think.
I do think there is a bias in literary fiction towards male authors in general and white male authors in particular--Foster Wallace, John Updike, Phillip Roth, Don DeLillo, Lethem, Chabon, also David Mitchell, whose books I love to death, to pick names not quite at random. The cream of the genre, if you listen to its proponents and apologists, definitely fit a certain pattern. I think there's also a secondary level to litfic which tends to be written by mostly white women--the sort of thing, to stereotype broadly, that sells well and gets a lot of play on the book club circuit, but never quite seems to earn the top prizes (Alice Sebold, Ann Packer, etc). There are important exceptions to these trends, unquestionably (Zadie Smith, Rushdie, Colson Whitehead), but publishing is still a pretty white place. Which isn't to disagree with your point about awesomeness not being a function of an author's race or class or whatever.
I do think litfic is a genre, too. It's a genre that insists that it's not a genre, and that furthermore it's the only genre with literary merit, but a genre nonetheless.
no subject
I do think there is a bias in literary fiction towards male authors in general and white male authors in particular--Foster Wallace, John Updike, Phillip Roth, Don DeLillo, Lethem, Chabon, also David Mitchell, whose books I love to death, to pick names not quite at random. The cream of the genre, if you listen to its proponents and apologists, definitely fit a certain pattern. I think there's also a secondary level to litfic which tends to be written by mostly white women--the sort of thing, to stereotype broadly, that sells well and gets a lot of play on the book club circuit, but never quite seems to earn the top prizes (Alice Sebold, Ann Packer, etc). There are important exceptions to these trends, unquestionably (Zadie Smith, Rushdie, Colson Whitehead), but publishing is still a pretty white place. Which isn't to disagree with your point about awesomeness not being a function of an author's race or class or whatever.
I do think litfic is a genre, too. It's a genre that insists that it's not a genre, and that furthermore it's the only genre with literary merit, but a genre nonetheless.