I never said anything about literary fiction genres. I was talking about poetry in its essence as an art — not as how it is classified by academics and booksellers.
I agree with you on this:
“Personally I wouldn’t house the avant poetry away from the mainstream poetry, because (q.e.d. already) the divide isn’t clear”
I would suggest you extend that open-mindedness to all poetry. Your doing that with the above hasn’t hampered their sales I expect, so why not do so with what you deem “non-serious poetry”?
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Tony Frazer wrote:
So you think it’s snobbish for literary fiction to be housed differently from SF? Everything in Waterstone’s should be lodged in alphabetical order, regardless of genre?
Personally I wouldn’t house the avant poetry away from the mainstream poetry, because (q.e.d. already) the divide isn’t clear. And in any event it’s not worth dividing the half shelf that most shops devote to it. I have work that I regard as “mainstream” (or at the very least, not “avant”) on my list. Judging by the reactions some of those books get from reviewers my understanding of the term may be off. What do I know? I just publish stuff I admire and think deserves an audience.
Tony
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