wildbill (02/24/83)
The opinion stated in a recent submission to this newsgroup that 5 percent
of SF compares favorably with "classic" literature is not as bad as it
sounds. Applying Sturgeon's revelation ("90 percent of everything is crud")
to SF indicates that only 10% of SF is worth comparing to these works in
the first place, since "classics" are works which have presumably survived
because they are not crud. What this all boils down to is approximately
a tautology: SF is a form of literature which is just as valid as any
other. Half of it which is worth comparing compares well with other forms
of literature, and half of it doesn't.