<p>no one seems to want to tell me why genre fiction is not even allowed in english departments. i missed the first day of my short story writing class, and for one of our stories, i naively wrote a mystery story. whoops! now why are they so taboo that nobody even wants to tell me why they are forbidden in the first place?</p>
<p>They’re definitely not taboo in every school, so either it’s just your school or maybe you misinterpreted the assignment. Did the professor specifically say that you got whatever grade because it was fiction? Ask the professor for some clarification.</p>
<p>They’re not taboo - but generally, the focus of English is literary fiction and not just reading/writing in general about other things.</p>
<p>okay, they’re not taboo… i was just exaggerating. but they’re definitely not allowed. well, luckily, it was only my first draft, and she didn’t grade the first draft. but i had spent the whole night writing it, only to find out they didn’t take genre fiction! we do have some classes that focus on popular fiction, but in general, we’re not really supposed to write genre fiction in the creative department. strange.</p>
<p>well, i did some googling, and some said it’s because genre fiction focuses on popular fiction, and academia tries to focus on culture…</p>
<p>Right. To be more specific:</p>
<p>Genre fiction seems to be about story telling. Usually in english class you concentrate on making an argument in an essay, or looking for technique, style, author’s motivation, etc, in a book.</p>
<p>But he’s in a Short Story Writing Class!</p>
<p>it’s a <em>she</em> :D</p>
<p>I missed that. 
I just thought we were speaking about “english departments” in general.</p>
<p>Well than that’s kind of strange, and I’d chalk it up to the professor’s personality.</p>
<p>One instructor not wanting one assignment to be genre fiction is not the same as English departments in general (or even your English department in general).</p>
<p>Since you bring up the first day of class when you weren’t there, I’m wondering what the instructor said about genre fiction that day. If you don’t have a copy of someone else’s notes, you’re not holding up your end of the bargain: you are responsible for everything that happens in class, whether or not you are present.</p>