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DrWho42

New Wave science fiction

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Anyone fans of New Wave sci-fi?

New Wave is a term applied to science fiction writing characterized by a high degree of experimentation, both in form and in content, and a highbrow and self-consciously "literary" or artistic sensibility. The term "New Wave" is borrowed from film criticism's nouvelle vague: films characterized by the work of Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, and others. The New Wave writers saw themselves as part of the general literary tradition and often openly mocked the traditions of pulp science fiction, which they regarded as stodgy, irrelevant and unambitious.

 

Source: Wikipedia (could do with a few more citations but over-all it's accurate)

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I love Ray Bradbury, Francois Truffaut & William H. Burroughs, but I'm not too familiar with the works of the others - except possibly Theodore Sturgeon & Fritz Leiber. (It's late & I can't remember what I might have read by them.) I'll have to look into this more, now that I know what the genre is called.

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One of my favorites is Samuel R. Delany although the I have only read two books by him: Nova and Dhalgren which I both highly recommend although the latter is really long and really abstract. There is also a really good short-story by him called "Aye and Gomorrah..." about how astronauts have to be neutered at an early age and the world's reaction to an essentially genderless people.

 

Another genre that seems to be New Wave-influenced is Bizarro fiction which I've only encountered through two books: Slaughtermatic and The Crime Studio by Steve Aylett.

Bizarro fiction is a contemporary literary genre noted for its focus on "high weirdness." The term was adopted in 2005 by the independent publishing companies Eraserhead Press, Raw Dog Screaming Press, and Afterbirth Books in response to the rising demand for unique and outlandish fiction. In the introduction to The Bizarro Starter Kit, Bizarro is described as "literature's equivalent to the cult section at the video store" and a genre that "strives not only to be strange, but fascinating, thought-provoking, and, above all, fun to read." According to Rose O'Keefe of Eraserhead Press: "Basically, if an audience enjoys a book or film primarily because of its weirdness, then it is Bizarro. Weirdness might not be the work's only appealing quality, but it is the major one."

 

Source: Bizarro fiction

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