Genres
Literary fiction
Fiction that is more character-driven than plot-driven, examines the human condition, and is regarded by critics as serious art.
Literary fiction, also called serious or artistic literature, is fiction that is more character-driven than plot-driven and examines the human condition, and it is regarded by critics as serious art. It is typically elegantly written, lyrical and layered, often slower paced, and may carry social commentary or political criticism; the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Booker Prize reward exactly this register. The label is contested: John Updike rejected it as a recent category that limited him, and genre advocates read the distinction as prestige rather than quality.
For novel and web-serial writers the term is a positioning decision more than a rule set: it shapes pitch, shelf and reader expectations of pace. The working spectrum against genre fiction, and the blended middle ground of upmarket fiction, is laid out in the guide to commercial, literary and upmarket fiction. Modes such as magical realism sit on this end of the shelf.