Weird fiction

Genres are arbitrary categories, anyway. The only true differences are between the literary forms that distinguish novels, poems, plays, operas, religious texts, anthologies, short stories, scholarly works, etc. If we're going to be this nitpicky about applying this descriptor then we have to be for all others. You're not right. You're autistic and you misunderstand the parameters whereby a class of literature comes into being. A class of literature is not itself a book or groups of books, it is a category into which these books fall. As long as people are thinking of these books in these terms, the category will exist. Lovecraft and Poe get pretty weird; they write fiction; why not apply this adjective to their fiction? It's not like either is a straight up Gothic writer; there's an undeniable strangeness to what they write that is at the heart of their style. The general associations that people make when they hear Lovecraft's name are associations with weird things. Weirdos also tend to like Lovecraft more than normal people. Poe is more normalfag-friendly but he's also an objectively superior writer whose name hasn't been tarnished by the same kinds of nerds as Lovecraft, most of whom think that Cthulu is funny or oh so randumb or something. Once in a blue moon you'll find fiction influenced by Lovecraft that goes beyond the level of the 'weird,' but it rarely happens.
You're wrong, basically. Genres are social constructs moreso than most social constructs.

Yeah 'Weird fiction' is a sort of nebulous category that began with cosmic horror but seems to have extended into stories that are sort of surreal, absurd or even philosophical. I think if Borges was writing now and Magical Realism was never a thing, he'd be categorised as Weird Fiction.

"Supernatural fiction"

but "supernatural" conjures up images of ghosts and werewolfs, which is not always what we're going for. We want to attract post-goths as well as goths.

>>9643897
It's just that I'm embarrassed that this term was put into use by Lovecraft critics - Vandermeer and Joshi.
They wrote too many people there. Of course, they called the "old men" forerunners, but genres are already invented for the "old people". Why come up with something new? Why do Weird fictions have such a blurry framework?
I think this was done specifically to cram more people into this genre. But damn, Caitlin Kearnan is not like Gaiman, I only know one follower of Lovecraft - Ligotti. Kiernan is romanticism, Geyman in some things - satire, fantasy, horror. Weird fiction is too speculative. It seems to me wrong and artificial.

Cosmic horror is an unknown horror. Damn, any horror is unknown! Dracula - why is it not Weird Fiction? Dracula challenges science, no one knows who he is. With it, science and religion are also fighting. Transylvania is no less terrible than Yuggot, Dracula's castle is as mysterious as R'leykh. Any horror raises the same questions as Weird Fiction. Why, then, is Weird Fiction called a separate genre?

>>9643948
>The philosophy of cosmicism states that there is no recognizable divine presence, such as a god, in the universe, and that humans are particularly insignificant in the larger scheme of intergalactic existence, and perhaps are just a small species projecting their own mental idolatries onto the vast cosmos. This also suggests that the majority of undiscerning humanity are creatures with the relative significance of insects and plants, when compared to the universe.

You may argue Dracula into cosmic horror if you like, but i think it stops being useful when you have to explain it for it to make sense.

>>9643957
Comparison of people with insects and plants is a plot move. This is not a sufficient reason for isolating a particular genre.
There is a god, there is no god - this is also a plot move. How can I understand that there is no god in the universe of Lovecraft, and does he exist in the Dracula universe? Perhaps Dracula is afraid of the chemical properties of silver, and not of divine wrath? In general, in Dracula the main theme is the conflict of religion (as superstition) and science, and Western and Eastern society, respectively. There is no definitive answer that Dracula won. But I do not record Dracula in Cosmic Horror or Weird Fiction. I just gave examples that you can not distinguish between normal horror and Weird fiction.

>>9643876
Once you get down to subgenres of subgenres, shit gets very muddled. Especially when people start retro-actively reassigning writers to these genres.

>>9643970
All modern writers of horror drew inspiration from Lovecraft? They are very different writers. And Lovecraft took inspiration from many writers. And all these writers have written a fiction in Weird! Brilliantly! Lovecraft is a philosophical stone, everything that touches it will turn into Weird Fiction!
I see it so.
This is an absurd situation! I read Vandermeer - I think he explains it very intricately. I read a short definition of Weird Fiction - and it made me laugh! Because there are signs of a genre of horror mixed with plot scenery! I read the discussion in Wikipedia, there do not understand at all who to add to Weird Fiction!
This is some absurdity!