2009 "Genre of the Month" Poll

[Virgil]

I would like to nominate the war novel.

[Nightshade]

I would like to nominate the war novel.

what do you measn by a war novel, one written during a war or about one?

[Virgil]

what do you measn by a war novel, one written during a war or about one?

I guess it would be about one set during war. Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_novel.

[learntodiscover]

I guess it would be about one set during war. Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_novel.

sorry but I just cannot stand war stories......maybe because I live in the uk that topic comes up way too often. Maybe if the war story had nothing to do with WW1 AND WW2, then I might take a crack at it.

[Virgil]

sorry but I just cannot stand war stories......maybe because I live in the uk that topic comes up way too often. Maybe if the war story had nothing to do with WW1 AND WW2, then I might take a crack at it.

Well, then don't vote for it.

[learntodiscover]

how about gothic fiction.

[_Shannon_]

sorry but I just cannot stand war stories......maybe because I live in the uk that topic comes up way too often. Maybe if the war story had nothing to do with WW1 AND WW2, then I might take a crack at it.

There are plenty of war novels not about WWI or WWII. Off the top of my head there's Red Badge of Courage, Cold Mountain, War and Peace, Vanity Fair, Gone With the Wind, The Iliad, The Things They Carried, Les Miserables, Last of the Mohicans.....

LOL! and that's just in like 30 seconds, before morning coffee--I am sure there are lots and lots more.

[wessexgirl]

how about gothic fiction.

Ooh, I'll second that, with the originals, like The Monk, or The Castle of Otranto etc., or even the satirizing of them in Northanger Abbey. I have always meant to read them, (those good intentions again ), but as usual, life intrudes. I did start The Monk many years ago, but never got around to finishing it. If we do choose one, can it be one of the classics, and not a contemporary version of gothic, pretty please?

[Virgil]

There are plenty of war novels not about WWI or WWII. Off the top of my head there's Red Badge of Courage, Cold Mountain, War and Peace, Vanity Fair, Gone With the Wind, The Iliad, The Things They Carried, Les Miserables, Last of the Mohicans.....

LOL! and that's just in like 30 seconds, before morning coffee--I am sure there are lots and lots more.

Yes, war is a frequent theme in literature. Why? Because humanity has never escaped it for more than a generation or two at most.

[Alexei]

Ooh, I'll second that, with the originals, like The Monk, or The Castle of Otranto etc., or even the satirizing of them in Northanger Abbey. I have always meant to read them, (those good intentions again ), but as usual, life intrudes. I did start The Monk many years ago, but never got around to finishing it. If we do choose one, can it be one of the classics, and not a contemporary version of gothic, pretty please?

Since someone has already nominated Horror, I suppose it would be possible these two to be considered as different options: one for the classical gothic and one for the new one. i hope it is possible.

I will take my time. I can't decide yet. As usual

[wessexgirl]

Since someone has already nominated Horror, I suppose it would be possible these two to be considered as different options: one for the classical gothic and one for the new one. i hope it is possible.

I definitely think they are different genres. To me "gothic" is not "horror", although of course you get titles like Dracula and Frankenstein in both. I think "horror" is broader, and I think of contemporary novelists like King, Koontz, Herbert etc, as well as oldies like H.P.Lovecraft and M.R.James in that genre, and covering many themes which are "horrific".

[Jozanny]

I definitely think they are different genres. To me "gothic" is not "horror", although of course you get titles like Dracula and Frankenstein in both. I think "horror" is broader, and I think of contemporary novelists like King, Koontz, Herbert etc, as well as oldies like H.P.Lovecraft and M.R.James in that genre, and covering many themes which are "horrific".

I think *horror* as a genre is increasingly problematic on the printed page, unless we think the goal of the horrific is just to give the reader a bit of a thrill like the campy films of yore that Tarantino is so fond of retro-fitting. As a genre I think it has problems, even if you look at someone like Charlee Jacob, who elicits more disgust than fear, and in the end winds up being just as silly as Rice, give or take context.

Although I can hear the groans from the gallery as I post, I think classical authors like Henry James and Joseph Conrad can actually be more frightening than the traditional tropes we get from Stoker or Shelley--and *gothic* is a broad umbrella. I've read interesting critical papers which suggest that both Dostoevsky and Conrad took *gothic* tropes and used it as a bridge to the literary realism of the late 19th to early 20th century.

I was going to nominate satire so as then to suggest Infinite Jest in honor of Wallace, but then again, who am I kidding? So I will nominate erotica and see what happens. Good erotic material is hard to come by, and I'd be interested to see if this board could come up with interesting titles.

[Virgil]

I think *horror* as a genre is increasingly problematic on the printed page, unless we think the goal of the horrific is just to give the reader a bit of a thrill like the campy films of yore that Tarantino is so fond of retro-fitting. As a genre I think it has problems, even if you look at someone like Charlee Jacob, who elicits more disgust than fear, and in the end winds up being just as silly as Rice, give or take context.

Although I can hear the groans from the gallery as I post, I think classical authors like Henry James and Joseph Conrad can actually be more frightening than the traditional tropes we get from Stoker or Shelley--and *gothic* is a broad umbrella. I've read interesting critical papers which suggest that both Dostoevsky and Conrad took *gothic* tropes and used it as a bridge to the literary realism of the late 19th to early 20th century.

I was going to nominate satire so as then to suggest Infinite Jest in honor of Wallace, but then again, who am I kidding? So I will nominate erotica and see what happens. Good erotic material is hard to come by, and I'd be interested to see if this board could come up with interesting titles.

I think you're right on the mark about writers taking gothic tropes and using them in their more "classical" fiction. William Faulkner is a classic example.

[Jozanny]

Well, it would take me more than I have time for to point to what I mean by problematic, but this is something I have been chewing on since Dark Muse started a *horror* thread in the General.

Do we actually seek to be horrified when we are reading so-called horror tales? I doubt it, and think that is why we turn to films instead, like the Friday The 13th franchise--but even here--is Freddy Krueger or Jason horrific?

I was actually amused that the last movie which fused the two franchises was a hit.

I have been also known to read the occasional thriller/suspense novel, but I am not sure I read these to be frightened either, even though I read much less of them now. (Sigh)

Apparently I'm groping for no particular reason, thinking about Wallace and wishing I could kick him in protest. He wasn't trapped in a broken body like Hunter Thompson was at the end of his life.

[Nightshade]

Scher a question must the nomintations come from that list or was that just a rough guide/idea?