tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15916138.post7097674483913690776..comments2023-09-25T05:45:41.437-07:00Comments on The Art of Fiction: Mr. Heinlein was Already Upset about the CommunistsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15916138.post-72404111386452081902012-06-11T15:03:26.660-07:002012-06-11T15:03:26.660-07:00As a writer of historical fiction myself, I was ta...As a writer of historical fiction myself, I was taken by your point that Hilary Mantel's work is relevant not because it is directly related to the politics of our era, but because it's a window into the politics of change.<br /><br />And that's definitely our time.Shelleyhttp://dustbowlpoetry.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15916138.post-35560935851799466152012-06-07T05:31:45.472-07:002012-06-07T05:31:45.472-07:00SF is a very diverse field now, artistically and p...SF is a very diverse field now, artistically and politically, and LeGuin did her share of making it that way. The number of writers in the field with personally progressive politics has almost always outnumbered those who were openly right-wing, but the important point is that SF is the literature of ideas, and many SF writers have done "if this goes on" social and political speculations in their art that contradict how they personally might vote. Including Heinlein.<br /><br />As for experimental writing in SF, actually that's what the whole New Wave in the 60s and 70s was about, as encouraged by editors/writers Harlan Ellison in the US and Michael Moorcock in the UK,among others. To say that there is no experimental writing in SF is to have not read much SF, IMHO. Just as not all superficial linguistic play is really experimental, not all things SF can be judged by their surface appearance. There have been about the same percentage of experimental SF writers as in mainstream literature, some of whom have written quite radically into their late careers. Alfred Beater, Samuel R. Delany come to mind. And I'd hardly call LeGuin herself a bland stylist, her apparently plain prose isn't.Art Durkeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07463180236975988432noreply@blogger.com