Neal Stephenson: Science Fiction as a Literary Genre

Neal Stephenson at Gresham College, London, May 8th, 2008.

In practice, genre is dead. It's only purpose is to determine which media outlet or reviewer to send the press releases to and which shelf to put it and find it on.

Stephenson delivers an insightful talk on how genres are fading and-- largely from the point of view of Speculative Fiction-- how crossover, ambiguity and absorption into the mainstream have blurred or obliterated the boundaries, rendering genre, in the classical sense, irrelevant.

This is the first time I've seen him speak. I'm really looking forward to his new book. I'm buying it hardcover.

Neal Stephenson
Neal Stephenson's Home Page
via SF Signal