As an obsessive categoriser, I'm interested to know how Fforde Ffans (I count myself as one) would classify Fforde's novels.

In terms of literary categories, what are the Next and Spratt books?
I might throw 'Fantasy' and 'Satire' into the ring as obvious contenders but neither term personally grabs me. Is it a new genre needing a new terminology?

Isn't it exiting that, somewhere in the future, when Fforde's output is being studied in university literature courses, your suggestion here** might be someone's footnote!



**footnote-a-phone: Oh yeh, as if!**

Fiction.

Dammit, I wanted to say that.

Then, that's the second time in two days he's been right about something.

Careful, it'll go to his head.

I don't categorize him other than to give him his own shelf. Although, when we build our new library, he may share it with other genre-busters. Aren't many of them out there, though.

If someone forced me at gunpoint to give it a classification, I'd say humorous fiction.

Gee. thanks so far guys. That really helped.

It might be 'fiction' !!!! Ggod save me.

I'm thankful that the cutie who is all-american at least added a modifier.

There's lots of fiction out there and a lot of humour and a lot of humorous fiction. So what genre?
I'm from Wagga Wagga and need to know.

Every book is either fiction or non-fiction really... I've seen it classified as crime fiction, but not too keen on that, sounds too serious.

My school writes in the front of each book what genre they are... TEA is 'crime fiction', but also 'literary fiction' and 'humour'.

Each time we start a new book in my literature class, my teacher makes us make up a sentence like wine critics. One book was "an Australian melodrama, with hints of tragedy and saga, with satirical and pastoral overtones." Now I think of it, that book had a lot of things in it...

To cover all bases, my local Waterstones have one copy of each book in the Fiction, Sci-Fi and Fantasy, and Detective Fiction sections, bless them. Not too sure if that answers the question, though...

How about ffiction?

If you really want a modifier, how about post-modern fiction?

I usually refer to them as cross-genre (although, I credit Dibs with the term).

HTH.

At least for me, it's third shelf from the top, right end (vertically between T. H. Lawrence and Karel Capek).

JFf's books can be classified as "Wildly imaginative, pun-filled bundles of literary allusions, satire, criticism and wit", according to one recent press release anyway.

Given that I scribbled the above in a matter of moments whilst under pressure from an eager journalist wanting to cover the forthcoming convention I wouldn't want to set too much store by it, but it's as good as any I suppose.

"Wildly imaginative, pun-filled bundles of literary allusions, satire, criticism and wit"

Can you fit that into a card catalog easily?

Not to poke fun, but you don't see fantasy books called "Whimsical tales containing lots of things that don't really exist, yet still provide plenty of melodrama and combine exciting action with varied degrees of made up words."

And no, I can't think of a single word genre that encompasses Jasper Fforde's work either, so long sentences may be needed anyways.



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You kids with your long hair and Baroque music...

could they possibly fit in with the magic realism classification like 100 years of solitude by garcia.

where places and people have realistic lives and live in places we recognise from our own lives, and then something happens so strange that all realistc preconceptions are shattered, then just as suddenly the normal reasserts itself and realism is the order of the day again.

havn't explained myself very well there but have summer flu and head a bit wooly at moment.

It's definitely not magic realism, as it completely misses out the realism part. Nice idea, though.

In the Great Library, they'd just be listed alphabetically on the sixth floor...

Does "cleverly round the bend" count?



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'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Is that a plumbing term?



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If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.