Science Fiction
Classical reception in science fiction and fantasy is exactly the sort of thing I want more of, partly because it sounds like an argument rather than a list of references.
I’ve only got this on my Want to Read shelf, but the premise is already doing useful work. Ancient Greece and Rome in genre fiction are never just decoration. They get displaced, borrowed, rewritten, sometimes flattened. That part interests me more than the usual “look, a myth reference” approach.
A good criticism book can do the same thing as a good novel: change what you notice afterwards.
I’ve only got this on my Want to Read shelf, but the premise is already doing useful work. Ancient Greece and Rome in genre fiction are never just decoration. They get displaced, borrowed, rewritten, sometimes flattened. That part interests me more than the usual “look, a myth reference” approach.
A good criticism book can do the same thing as a good novel: change what you notice afterwards.
The bit I’d push on is the “useful work” part. A lot of criticism on this kind of material ends up being a very tidy map of references, when the messier question is what happens once those old stories are put under pressure by genre. That’s usually where the interesting argument lives. Gloss is easy. Friction is better.