I also think a writer can be vitally important without being great. Asimov is vitally important AND a founding father, and that is a huge accomplishment in itself.
Willow: Were there dolphins? Tara: Yes. Many dolphins at the pound. Willow: Was there a camel? Tara: There was the front of a camel. A half-camel.
'Selfless'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Scrappy - Dec 22, 2011 11:49:09 am PST #17181 of 28333
Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Jesse - Dec 22, 2011 11:50:03 am PST #17182 of 28333
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
(It should go without saying that I have nothing to say about Asimov or SF as a genre.)
Amy - Dec 22, 2011 11:54:17 am PST #17183 of 28333
Because books.
the REALLY great writers offer the whole enchilada
Absolutely. There just aren't that many of them. And there are a whole lot of authors who write really beloved novels and rich characters without being prose innovators.
I also think a writer can be vitally important without being great.
Me, too.
Polter-Cow - Dec 22, 2011 11:56:49 am PST #17184 of 28333
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
It would be fairer to posit your Asimovetti as someone who, say, was a groundbreaker (or genius, if you prefer) in composition but derivative color and flat humans.
I just now got that there wasn't a real painter named Asimovetti who painted gryphons.
I haven't read any Asimov, but I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't really like him. I tend to like influenced work more than their influences.
Ginger - Dec 22, 2011 12:12:24 pm PST #17185 of 28333
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
I would argue that much of Asimov's short fiction is as good or better than most SF writers' since. "Nightfall" has been on every best SF short story of all time list I've ever seen. He's not Bradbury, but who is?
Polter-Cow - Dec 22, 2011 12:15:26 pm PST #17186 of 28333
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
This seems a good time to link to "Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury" in case someone hasn't seen it.
Atropa - Dec 22, 2011 12:20:04 pm PST #17187 of 28333
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
This is where I admit I can be completely humorless at times, because that video sets my teeth on edge. (Plei pointed out that part of my annoyance at it is that in a way, I think of Ray Bradbury in the same way I do as Clovis, so of course that song/video would make me cranky.)
Ginger - Dec 22, 2011 12:22:46 pm PST #17188 of 28333
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
My teeth are with Jilli's.
Typo Boy - Dec 22, 2011 12:23:57 pm PST #17189 of 28333
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.
For what it is worth, there are pictures on the net of Bradbury watching that vid and really getting into it.
Atropa - Dec 22, 2011 12:26:11 pm PST #17190 of 28333
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
For what it is worth, there are pictures on the net of Bradbury watching that vid and really getting into it.
Oh, I know! And I'm very glad he was amused by it. That doesn't change the fact that it raises *my* hackles.