1.26.2009

101 Sub-genres?

Writers often have technique in mind when browsing for new books. Still, it's odd to come across a book-market where different literary techniques are browsable. It seems somehow respectful of literature that with a click the shelves will re-arrange themselves to bring together Time's Arrow, First Light, and Being Dead. At the same time, thematic pigeonholes such as:

Family & Friendship : family, general
Family & Friendship : sisters
Human Qualities & Behavior : loneliness
Literary Genres & Types of Novels : psychological realism

seem unlikely to lead to the purchase of Easter Parade.

I guess I'm intrigued because I like to imagine a very eccentric bookstore with all manner of odd shelves, some helpful, like an idiosyncratic seminar on novels that take place in 24 hours or in Hollywood; other shelves not so helpful, such as one that collected together various fictions that take place primarily or completely in the dark.

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