The Aquatic Uncle

This week we are attempting to distinguish between writing in genre and writing that may use elements of the genre but that is essentially literary. Discuss this question in relation to the work(s) you read for this week. Do you think this is an important or necessary distinction, or not? Is your experience of the text affected by these questions?

This short story to say the least was, disturbing. However, I do not think that disturbing, in this case, is necessarily bad. In The Aquatic Uncle by Italo Calvino, there are many boundaries and limits being pushed and bent. While this piece can likely be considered science fiction or fantasy short story, there is a certain amount of glory and risk in that it doesn't try that hard to be either of these things. It has the elements in science fiction through the biological nature of the story, and how much of it is based on a singular scientific theory. How this information is applied and reused is a completely different story. The distinction here is not necessary. There can be works that are clearly within the realm of science fiction but have many other genre elements or push the boundaries of what is expected from a science fiction piece. Just the same is true for if a piece doesn't really fit into just one genre. In my personal ideal world, these boundaries of what should and shouldn't be in specific genres would not exist. Let pieces of work (literary or otherwise) just exist as they are, to be interpreted by each individual. My experience of the text is not affected by these questions. I thought that the piece was extremely peculiar, and unlike anything, I had ever read before. Although for me, that's part of why I enjoyed reading it, it was so bizarre and weird that it made it really interesting.