Ian McEwan: I have invented a new genre. It shall be called "science fiction"

Albedo

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Oh dear. This is blowing up: UK literary heavyweight Ian McEwan has decided he's going to do something that sci fi writers have never once thought to consider: use science fiction to say something about the human condition. Because all we've been writing about up to date is anti-gravity boots:

The Guardian
McEwan has an abiding faith that novels are the best place to examine such ethical dilemmas, though he has little time for conventional science fiction. “There could be an opening of a mental space for novelists to explore this future, not in terms of travelling at 10 times the speed of light in anti-gravity boots, but in actually looking at the human dilemmas of being close up to something that you know to be artificial but which thinks like you. If a machine seems like a human or you can’t tell the difference, then you’d jolly well better start thinking about whether it has responsibilities and rights and all the rest.”

Thanks for the tips, old bean. If only it had occurred to Philip K Dick, Issac Asimov, or Mary fucking Shelley to use science fiction to examine what artificial life says about humanity. Imagine what works they might have written, if only McEwan had been around to make the suggestion.

Literary writers really oughta broaden their reading, at lest if they're planning to totally revolutionise a genre they have no fucking idea about. I'm glad this review's getting roundly mocked, and we're getting some dank memes out of it: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D4Mnsf9XsAATIyn.jpg:large But oh, for a literary reviewer with the genre chops to give poor McEwan some suggestions. I think his mind would be blown.
 

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babbage

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I would say this is a bit unfair to McEwan. I've read his novels (and lots and lots of sci-fi), and he is known for his "scientific" approach to fiction. Plenty has been said about this in various venues, mostly literary, but I don't think McEwan is disparaging any of the sci-fi greats of the past or present.

Oh dear. This is blowing up: UK literary heavyweight Ian McEwan has decided he's going to do something that sci fi writers have never once thought to consider: use science fiction to say something about the human condition. Because all we've been writing about up to date is anti-gravity boots:

The Guardian


Thanks for the tips, old bean. If only it had occurred to Philip K Dick, Issac Asimov, or Mary fucking Shelley to use science fiction to examine what artificial life says about humanity. Imagine what works they might have written, if only McEwan had been around to make the suggestion.

Literary writers really oughta broaden their reading, at lest if they're planning to totally revolutionise a genre they have no fucking idea about. I'm glad this review's getting roundly mocked, and we're getting some dank memes out of it: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D4Mnsf9XsAATIyn.jpg:large But oh, for a literary reviewer with the genre chops to give poor McEwan some suggestions. I think his mind would be blown.
 

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I find this hilarous in a Peggy Hill sort of way.

[FONT=&quot]"The day after Thanksgiving is, in my opinion, the biggest shopping day of the year." - Peggy Hill[/FONT]
 

Albedo

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I would say this is a bit unfair to McEwan. I've read his novels (and lots and lots of sci-fi), and he is known for his "scientific" approach to fiction. Plenty has been said about this in various venues, mostly literary, but I don't think McEwan is disparaging any of the sci-fi greats of the past or present.
Well, to be fair, the interviewer may well be projecting his own genre biases onto McEwan, as we're not really given the context for that quote, only the interviewer's interpolation that McEwan has no time for us. Perhaps he's aware of the vast body of work that already fits his bill, and isn't just about FTL anti-gravity boots. But the interviewer sure ain't.
 

Albedo

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My 2020 Sisyphus prompt is "a story that uses FTL anti-gravity boots to make a profound statement about the tension between genre and 'literary'".
 

Layla Nahar

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Meh. EVERY time I've read a 'literary' take on science fiction, it has just failed - failed at both I think. Certainly at being interesting science fiction.
 

Kjbartolotta

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I would say, at the very least, McEwan has never seen Blade Runner. Or read FTL, Y'all! I don't think he's trying to actively disparage the genre here, (and, yeah, it could be the journalist's bias as well), just more distancing himself and maybe deliberately being a crank. But the reductive approach to SF he's taking here was an old hat in the Seventies, plus he seems to be saying that he is innovating in the field somehow.

My 2020 Sisyphus prompt is "a story that uses FTL anti-gravity boots to make a profound statement about the tension between genre and 'literary'".

I interpret the boots more as a commentary on the Death of the Author, as well as a classic Poststructualist decentering device.
 
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Richard White

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I interpret the boots more as a commentary on the Death of the Author, as well as a classic Poststructualist decentering device.

Of course, it's decentering. They're on his feet, not around his waist. *sheesh*

<---poker of fun at Literary Criticism. How I ever passed my Lit Crit class in my MA program still amazes me.
 

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It reminds me of Margaret Atwood just insisting, over and over, that she does not write science fiction no she does not.

The snobbery is real.
 

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Hahahahaha, No, see, what's he's going to do will be ... better... because ... literary... So... LOLOLOLOL
 

lizmonster

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Hahahahaha, No, see, what's he's going to do will be ... better... because ... literary... So... LOLOLOLOL

Oh, I'm perfectly willing to believe he'll write a competent book. What would surprise the hell out of me is if it's at all unusual, or in any way reinvents a genre that's been making observations about the human condition for centuries.

Y'all will have to tell me, though. I already have a bunch of SF writers I love who have back catalogues so big I haven't a hope of getting through them all. Mr. McEwan will have to survive without my ten bucks, and live with the fact that I will now always assume he's a horrible snob.
 

Tazlima

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Oh, I'm perfectly willing to believe he'll write a competent book. What would surprise the hell out of me is if it's at all unusual, or in any way reinvents a genre that's been making observations about the human condition for centuries.

When I read the article and saw that the title was "Robots Like Me," all I could think was, "That MUST be a reference to 'I, Robot.'"

Unless, of course, "Like" refers to fondness, and the title means "Robots are fond of me." The story of someone trying to go about his/her life, who's constantly accosted by robots that want to make friends in awkward roboty ways? I'd read that.
 
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Ari Meermans

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Atwood can call her work anything she likes; it does not, however, alter the fact that Literary is not a genre, it's a Marketing Category. Literary novels are found in every genre.

If Ian McEwan thinks he's the very first to explore the human condition through interaction with AI—and he isn't by a long 60+ years' shot—I'd recommend Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice as a recent example. His unfortunate comment is an object lesson for writers: When you don't read widely, no amount of acclaim can save your butt when you pop off in public about things you know nothing about.
 

ajaye

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My 2020 Sisyphus prompt is "a story that uses FTL anti-gravity boots to make a profound statement about the tension between genre and 'literary'".

Or it can just be about how awesome the boots are. Your choice.

"Robots are fond of me." The story of someone trying to go about his/her life, who's constantly accosted by robots that want to make friends in awkward roboty ways? I'd read that.

It has inspired some mighty fine prompts, at least.