From: utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!wildbill
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Title: SF vs. classic literature
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.944
Posted: Wed Feb 23 19:00:07 1983
Received: Thu Feb 24 02:26:17 1983

The opinion stated in a recent submission to this newsgroup that 5 percent
of SF compares favorably with "classic" literature is not as bad as it
sounds. Applying Sturgeon's revelation ("90 percent of everything is crud")
to SF indicates that only 10% of SF is worth comparing to these works in
the first place, since "classics" are works which have presumably survived
because they are not crud. What this all boils down to is approximately
a tautology: SF is a form of literature which is just as valid as any
other. Half of it which is worth comparing compares well with other forms
of literature, and half of it doesn't.