Dan Simmons on Henry James, RLS, & HG Wells

I'm up late with the crackling throb and discomfort of an earache. While toodling around with my thoughts on Dan Simmons' Olympos, which I finished yesterday, I came upon his current "message" on his website, a thoughtful meditation on the friendship between Henry James and Robert Louis Stevenson, with H.G. Wells thrown in for good measure.

Mr. Simmons has long been irritated both with the reputation of genre fiction, and with being considered a genre fiction writer (which I would argue is primarily what he is, even if I agree that The Terror deserves a larger audience.) This plays into the essay, but most of it is about the relationships between the authors (I'd never thought of them communicating before) and the 'purpose' of literature.

It is absolutely a great read. If you've got twenty minutes to sink into the subject, I highly recommend the essay. I have lately been fascinated by the interstices of artistic relationships, when one realizes that these 'geniuses' did not operate in a vaccuum, but were part of a wide community of thinkers, painters, and writers.

http://www.dansimmons.com/news/message.htm

Also, for those of you not on a regular feed, today's Sinfest is awesome.