Category Archives: literary criticism

Repeating Myself, But Not Being Redundant

Posted on May 9, 2013 by

It’s time once again for a flurry of reminders that women writers don’t get no respect. There were the clueless editors on Wikipedia who had the bright idea of trimming the list of American novelists by carving out a separate … Continue reading →


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Posted in Books and Reading, feminism, literary criticism | Tagged , | 7 Comments

What makes a book “dirty”?

Posted on October 2, 2012 by

The most famous banned book I know of is ULYSSES, by James Joyce.  These days it’s considered a monumental work of Modernist Literature, with capital letters and everything.  When it first came out, as a serial production during the first … Continue reading →


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Posted in Banned Book Week, Blogs, literary criticism, Publishing | Tagged | 9 Comments

50 Shades of Burning Books

Posted on September 30, 2012 by

Hello, and welcome to Banned Books Week at Book View Cafe. I’m Marissa Day, and I write erotic romance.  Given what I write, it’s probably no surprise that I took it personally when I heard a number of groups either … Continue reading →


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Posted in Banned Book Week, literary criticism, romance | Tagged , , , , , | 13 Comments

Le Guin’s Hypothesis

Posted on June 18, 2012 by

by Ursula K. Le Guin I keep telling myself that I’m done writing about Literature vs Genre, that that vampire is buried at the crossroads with a stake in its heart and garlic in its coffin. And then it pops … Continue reading →


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Posted in Book View Cafe, Genres, literary criticism | Tagged , , | 80 Comments

The New Yorker Discovers Science Fiction

Posted on June 7, 2012 by

by Nancy Jane Moore The cover of the June 4 and 11 issue of The New Yorker (by the excellent cartoonist Daniel Clowes) shows an alien, a guy in a spacesuit with a raygun, and a robot invading a literary … Continue reading →


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Posted in Books and Reading, literary criticism, science fiction | Tagged | 12 Comments

Writers’ Writers and Writer Storytellers

Posted on April 22, 2012 by

          Frequently book discussions will begin with an interesting apologia. I noticed it a lot a few years ago Twilight was the Hot Thing. It was also said about J.K. Rowling, and more recently, Susanne Collins: … Continue reading →


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Posted in Books and Reading, Culture, literary criticism | Tagged , , | 27 Comments

Literary authority up close and personal

Posted on April 8, 2012 by

          “Why are some authors selling truckloads of novels, but not winning prizes while others barely scratch out a living while filling their mantles with awards?” This question came up during the same week the kafuffle … Continue reading →


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Posted in Books and Reading, literary criticism | Tagged , , , , , | 18 Comments

Taste

Posted on November 13, 2011 by

by Sherwood Smith Last week’s discussion about women’s and men’s fantasy intersected in my head with an old novel I was reading a few weeks back, one of the many nineteenth century novels I loaded onto my Kindle for my … Continue reading →


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Posted in Books and Reading, Culture, Genres, History, literary criticism | Tagged , , , , | 35 Comments

Fanfiction vs Metafiction

Posted on October 23, 2011 by

by Sherwood Smith In an exchange of e-mails about writing and reading issues, a friend had this to say (quoted with permission): I was hearing an interview this morning with a guy who’s written the story of Huckleberry Finn’s father … Continue reading →


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Posted in literary criticism | Tagged , | 40 Comments

Is To Kill a Mockingbird Still a Great Book?

Posted on July 28, 2011 by

By Nancy Jane Moore In my post last week on favorite literary fiction, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird showed up on many of the lists posted in the comments. It’s generally considered one of the great books of the … Continue reading →


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Posted in literary criticism | 6 Comments