What is genre fiction?

What is genre fiction?

What is literary fiction?

What is the essential difference?

I don't know the definition, as I am not a dictionary, but you can recognize genre fiction very easily; as you read the book and you feel embarassed by doing so that may be THE genre fiction.

Fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and romance are all genres because they all have their own emphases, tropes, and so on. The difference maybe is how much these aspects of genre are emphasized. For example Infinite Jest uses aspects of SF but it really wouldn't primarily be labeled as such

I don't think it's primarily a matter of whether a work has merit, since for example Lem is definitely SF but is of high literary merit

Literary fiction is character driven while genre fiction is plot driven.

genre fiction is written with the intent to fit into existing genres, to appeal to reader expectations. literary fiction is not

>What is genre fiction?
Literature as commodity.
>What is literary fiction?
Literature by people whose job doesn't consist of selling books.
>What is the essential difference?
Literary fiction is better.

whats he playing? looks comfy

genre fiction is more about story and plot. literary fiction is more about characters, ideas, prose, and being a naval-gazing useless fag

Let's see if I got it. Star Wars is genre fiction because it's fantasy masquerading as science fiction, and appeals to a very wide audience?

neil gaiman talks a lot about what genre means in "the view from the cheap seats" which is a collection of his essays and speeches and introductions. basically what i took away from it was that to fall within a genre, a story has certain benchmarks it has to meet. a western has to have gunfights, a damsel in distress, cowboys, etc. otherwise it's just a story in the west