Literary fiction is a somewhat uneasy term that has come into common usage since around 1970, principally to distinguish 'serious' fiction from the many types of genre fiction and popular fiction. For example, a traditional first novel is supposed not to be science fiction, nor a detective story, but with literary content usually partly autobiographical. It has been observed that literary fiction focuses more on style, psychological depth, and character, whereas commercial (mainstream) fiction focuses more on plot. Genre fiction is a term for fictional works (novels, short stories) written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre in order to appeal to the fans of that genre. ... Genre fiction is a term for writings by multiple authors that are very similar in theme and style, especially where these similarities are deliberately pursued by the authors. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Detective Story is a 1951 film which tells the story of one day in the lives of the various people who populate a police detectives squad. ... For music albums named Autobiography, see Greek eauton = self, bios = life and graphein = write) is a form of biography, the writing of a life story. ...

Literary fiction includes works written as short story, novella, novel and novel sequence. Of these, the novella is relatively uncommon in English literature, and more important in German literature or Russian literature. There is no particular reason that forms should be so limited; other categories could include the novelette, and the graphic novel as represented by a work such as Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth. This article is in need of attention. ... A novella is a short, narrative, prose fiction work. ... DeFoes Robinson Crusoe, Newspaper edition published in 1719 A novel (from French nouvelle, new) is an extended fictional narrative in prose. ... In literature, there are some recognisable types of novel sequence. ... The term English literature refers to literature written in the English language, or literature composed in English by writers who are not necessarily from England; Joseph Conrad was Polish, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Edgar Allan Poe was American, Salman Rushdie is Indian. ... German literature comprises those literary texts originating within Germany proper and written in the German language. ... Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia or its émigrés, and to the Russian-language literature of several independent nations once a part of what was historically Russia or the Soviet Union. ... A novelette (or novelet) is a piece of short prose fiction. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with comic book. ... The cover to the collected edition of Jimmy Corrigan by Chris Ware Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth is a widely-acclaimed graphic novel by Chris Ware, published in 2000. ...

The distinction has its artificial side, in the sense that magical realism counts as literary, while fantasy writing is excluded; the dividing line cannot be accurately drawn on the basis of content alone, and has to include style as a consideration. Literary prizes usually concern themselves with literary fiction, and their shortlists can give a working definition. Magic Realism (or Magical Realism) is an illustrative or literary technique in which the laws of cause and effect seem not quite to apply in otherwise real world situations. ... For other definitions of fantasy, see fantasy (psychology). ...

It has become a commonplace that 'literary fiction' is in itself just another genre. This accords with the marketing practices now general in the book trade. It may also be taken to be the latest version of the death of the novel debate that has run from 1950, and reflects at one remove the importance accorded the novel as it replaced poetry as the central literary form in Western Europe and North America from the 1930s. www. ... Marketing is the process of planning and executing the pricing, promotion, and distribution of goods, ideas, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals. ... DeFoes Robinson Crusoe, Newspaper edition published in 1719 A novel (from French nouvelle, new) is an extended fictional narrative in prose. ... Bust of Homer, one of the earliest European poets, in the British Museum Poetry (ancient Greek: ποιεω (poieo) = I create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. ... Western Europe is distinguished from Eastern Europe by differences of history and culture rather than by geography. ... World map showing location of North America A satellite composite image of North America North America is a continent in the northern hemisphere, bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west...

External links

• Most Honored Literary Fiction at the Book Award Annals