By Slanted Light

I can't really think when the term "literary fiction" seemed to pop up, but then I tend to assume that I just don't hear about things for ages and ages... In my head I don't hear it in the eighties, but I did hear in in the nineties. That could have just been me, but...

I went googling, and found an interesting definition by Neal Stephenson, quoted in wiki: while any definition will be simplistic there is a general cultural difference between literary and genre fiction, created by who the author is accountable to. Literary novelists are typically supported by patronage via employment at a university or similar institutions, with the continuation of such positions determined not by book sales but by critical acclaim by other established literary authors and critics. Genre fiction writers seek to support themselves by book sales and write to please a mass audience. So according to that it's got nothing really to do with the writing itself, but is defined by who effectively pays for the writing, and the power they have to call it "good"... Interesting...