The Boundaries of Genre
July 20, 2020

I've been a fan of M. John Harrison's writing since I first read Viriconium. His
prose, his ability to create a "narrative" without a narrative and the fact that
he's a genre unto himself have always amazed me. So when I saw this[1] post
on his blog about genre and playing with genres, I paid attention. In it,
Harrison writes:

          Genre is now a contested space. That can give it an interesting
  tension. You can write it from the inside outwards, away from the genre; or from
  an outside inwards, towards it. 

The whole post is worth reading--it's short but packed with good ideas clothed
in beautiful metaphor. (In fact, I recommend you read the whole thing now before
coming back here.)

The sentence about writing inward and outward--coming from someone like
Harrison--sparked half a day's thought on genre and an artist's vision and how
the two interact.

Among my many meditations was a memory of seeing one of Picasso's very early
paintings at a museum several years ago and being impressed by how technically
proficient he was as conventional artist. It struck me then that perhaps
Picasso's particular vision had simply grown to the point that it could only be
conveyed by moving beyond the boundaries of conventional painting. He'd learned
and familiarized himself with the techniques of his "genre" and used them well,
but then had gone on from there into his own vision. That, in turn, made me
think that a young painter who was ignorant of the basics of painting and just
started "expressing their vision" wouldn't do as well or get as far as someone
who already had a grounding in the fundamentals.

When it comes to writing, I take the same view as I did with Picasso: if a
writer is going to play with a genre or genres, it would be good for them to
have some familiarity and experience with that genre. They should know the
conventions, how things "are done" and "not done," and what a reader will expect
to see--even if the writer's purpose is, ultimately, to subvert all of the
above. To write towards the inside or the outside of a genre, you first have to
know where the boundaries are.

[1] https://ambientehotel.wordpress.com/2020/07/15/indicators

(c) 2020 by Andrew Gudgel 
email: contact [at] andrewgudgel.com