Categorization of Authors

For some time now, I have been organizing (or trying to organize) my
library. General categories now existing a


History
Literature
English (language)
American
British
Canadian
etc.
French (includes French speaking countries besides France)
Spanish (includes Spanish speaking countries besides Spain)
etc.
Mystery
Espionage
Science Fiction (not including fantasy which goes into general literature)
Art
Photography
All Other Art
Law
Reference
Languages
Sciences
etc.


I have encountered several problems in all this.


1. There is a gray area between history and literature. Benjamin
Franklin's Autobiography is generally considered literature not history,
for instance, even though it is not "fictional". So I have been unsure
where to put memoirs. For instance, Lillian Hellman's writings could
mostly fit under both categories. Another instance: Jay Valtin, "Out
of the Night".


2. Some authors are hard to put into one of my subcategories of
literature. I know that I may have complicated things by breaking
English language literature down by country, but I did it because,
within each subcategory I organize the bookshelves chronologically, and
I find that seeing the books chronologically on the shelves gives me a
sense of how they may relate to one another, say through ideas picked up
by one writer from another. In any case, there are a few authors who
cannot be easily said to be of one country or another, and I expect that
in the future, this will get worse. The ones I am struggling with now are;

a. James Clavell. Born in Australia of British parents,
educated in England, spent crucial years in the Indo-China region,
started writing in England, went to the USA, became an American
citizen, wrote most of his great works while in the USA. Died in Europe.

b. Vladimir Nabokov. Born in Russia. Learned 3 languages as
a child. Fled Russia for Germany. Fled Germany for France. Fled
France for the USA. Did most of his writing in the USA, where he lived
for less than 20 years. Moved to Switzerland where he died.

c. M. M. Kaye. Born in India of British parents. Raised in
India for a while, sent to England for teen years of education, returned
to India, wrote about India, married a British diplomat, travelled and
wrote stories set everywhere that she traveled.


Any help resolving these problems would be most appreciated.


Francis A. Miniter

"Francis A. Miniter" wrote...
For some time now, I have been organizing (or trying to organize) my
library. General categories now existing a
[list snipped]
I have encountered several problems in all this.


1. There is a gray area between history and literature....

A useful category here is "belles lettres": literary nonfiction, which can
also be stretched to fit literary criticism (e.g. TS Eliot's volumes of
literary theory).


2. Some authors are hard to put into one of my subcategories of
literature....


Since this is *your* library, choosing where to put these authors is, I
think, a matter of deciding where they lie in your personal intellectual
landscape. My votes would be:


a. James Clavell.

British.


b. Vladimir Nabokov.

American.


c. M. M. Kaye.

British.

But you certainly might choose otherwise depending on how you think of them
and why you read them. You might even choose to create a new category of
multinational (polynational?) authors--including also, say, Joseph Conrad,
Michael Ondaatje, Eliot (of course), and many others.


--
Jon Meyers
(To reply, lose
your way)

"Francis A. Miniter" wrote in message ...
For some time now, I have been organizing (or trying to organize) my
library. General categories now existing a

snip

Science Fiction (not including fantasy which goes into general literature)

So fantasy is "literature" while science fiction isn't? As the
denizens of rasfw will tell you, there is no clear dividing line
between these two genres, so why not just group them together under
the category Speculative Fiction?

I have encountered several problems in all this.


1. There is a gray area between history and literature. Benjamin
Franklin's Autobiography is generally considered literature not history,
for instance, even though it is not "fictional".

This is news to me. When I go into any bookstore, I expect to
find this one, along with Cellini's and Rousseau's, and Casanova's, in
the autobiography section, and I invariably do. The fact that this
title happens to be a well-known classic of its type still doesn't
elevate it out of its category. Therein lies chaos.

So I have been unsure
where to put memoirs. For instance, Lillian Hellman's writings could
mostly fit under both categories. Another instance: Jay Valtin, "Out
of the Night".

I'd certainly group memoirs together with the autobiographies;
both are first-person accounts of life events...that are to be taken
with lots of salt.

Query about multi-national authors

I'd go with the country that published most of their works. Or
alternatively, their most well known ones.

--
Ht

Htn963 wrote:

"Francis A. Miniter" wrote in message ...


For some time now, I have been organizing (or trying to organize) my
library. General categories now existing a



snip



Science Fiction (not including fantasy which goes into general literature)



So fantasy is "literature" while science fiction isn't? As the
denizens of rasfw will tell you, there is no clear dividing line
between these two genres, so why not just group them together under
the category Speculative Fiction?



Hi Ht,


I want to thank you and Jon Meyers for your responses. I have
occasionally considered a separate category for
auotbiography-memoirs-literary non-fiction, but have dreaded the effort
it will require. I suppose, however, I may have to. Unfortunately, I
seem to have quite a lot that will go into that category. So, I will
have to decide where in the house they get filed, what bookcases they
get, etc.


As to fantasy and science fiction, I should explain that the "fantasy" I
read is of the T. H. White and Tolkien variety, closer in my mind to
Beowolf and Le Morte d'Arthur, than to Conan the Barbarian. Science
fiction I separate because it has become a well-defined segment of
literature, not that it is not literature. The same goes for mystery
(and espionage) novels. I recall a passage from Dorothy Sayers' novel
"Gaudy Night" where her fictional female mystery novel writer comments
that she wrote one mystery novel and it sold well so that is all that
her publishers will let her write now, and as a consequence, she tries
to write good literature in the guise of the mystery genre. And
certainly there are a lot of literary mystery writers. Just take a look
at Martha Grimes latest novel "Foul Matter", which takes a mischievous
look at the publishing industry and writers.


Francis A. Miniter

On Sun, 02 May 2004 11:04:23 -0400, "Francis A. Miniter"
wrote:

Htn963 wrote:

"Francis A. Miniter" wrote in message ...


For some time now, I have been organizing (or trying to organize) my
library. General categories now existing a



snip



Science Fiction (not including fantasy which goes into general literature)



So fantasy is "literature" while science fiction isn't? As the
denizens of rasfw will tell you, there is no clear dividing line
between these two genres, so why not just group them together under
the category Speculative Fiction?



Hi Ht,


I want to thank you and Jon Meyers for your responses. I have
occasionally considered a separate category for
auotbiography-memoirs-literary non-fiction, but have dreaded the effort
it will require. I suppose, however, I may have to. Unfortunately, I
seem to have quite a lot that will go into that category. So, I will
have to decide where in the house they get filed, what bookcases they
get, etc.


As to fantasy and science fiction, I should explain that the "fantasy" I
read is of the T. H. White and Tolkien variety, closer in my mind to
Beowolf and Le Morte d'Arthur, than to Conan the Barbarian. Science
fiction I separate because it has become a well-defined segment of
literature, not that it is not literature. The same goes for mystery
(and espionage) novels. I recall a passage from Dorothy Sayers' novel
"Gaudy Night" where her fictional female mystery novel writer comments
that she wrote one mystery novel and it sold well so that is all that
her publishers will let her write now, and as a consequence, she tries
to write good literature in the guise of the mystery genre. And
certainly there are a lot of literary mystery writers. Just take a look
at Martha Grimes latest novel "Foul Matter", which takes a mischievous
look at the publishing industry and writers.


Francis A. Miniter


I can't help but wonder where you'll wind up filing a copy of THE
FLYING BEAST by Walter S. Masterman. It features series detective
Arthur Sinclair (mystery), has a flying saucer (science-fiction), and
includes a gothic mansion, (horror/gothic), and a lost race
(fantasy).

I finally gave up and re-shelved in three catagories (fiction,
non-fiction, & reference). Which is not to say that there aren;t
dozens of books that I use for reference in the fiction or non-fiction
collections, but the reference shelf is limited to those hundred or so
titles that I'm convinced I need close at hand at all times...


Cheers,

John

Jon Meyers wrote:

But you certainly might choose otherwise depending on how you think of them
and why you read them. You might even choose to create a new category of
multinational (polynational?) authors--including also, say, Joseph Conrad,
Michael Ondaatje, Eliot (of course), and many others.




And Henry James, Henry Miller, Anais Nin, Patricia Highsmith. It is
beginning to get very difficult. For the time being, I am classifying
these last four as American.


Francis A. Miniter

In article , (Francis
A. Miniter) wrote:

a. James Clavell. Born in Australia of British parents,
educated in England, spent crucial years in the Indo-China region,
started writing in England, went to the USA, became an American
citizen, wrote most of his great works while in the USA. Died in
Europe.

b. Vladimir Nabokov. Born in Russia. Learned 3 languages as
a child. Fled Russia for Germany. Fled Germany for France. Fled
France for the USA. Did most of his writing in the USA, where he lived
for less than 20 years. Moved to Switzerland where he died.

c. M. M. Kaye. Born in India of British parents. Raised in
India for a while, sent to England for teen years of education,
returned to India, wrote about India, married a British diplomat,
travelled and wrote stories set everywhere that she traveled.

FWIW my instinct would be to classify Clavell and Nabokov as American,
Kaye as British. But in dealing with these grey areas in a personal
library the important question is /your/ instinct, IMHO - most books can
be shelved in several places, the issue is what they mean to you. (For
example I have Diary of a Nobody shelved with Victorian domestic history
though it is technically comic fiction.)