Pre-Joycean Fellowship

Several writers known for fantasy and science fiction have semi-seriously called themselves the Pre-Joycean Fellowship to indicate that they value 19th-century values of storytelling, including clarity, called by Jane Yolen the "lovely limpid quality" of writing.^[1] Steven Brust has said that "it is in large part a joke, and in another large part a way to start literary arguments".^[2]

The term was probably coined by Will Shetterly in imitation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood,^[3] positing James Joyce as the dividing line (in English) between 19th-century fiction intended for a general audience and a modern desire to write for readers who are well educated in the literary history. Mark Alan Arnold commented, "The Pre-Joycean Fellowship exists to poke fun at the excesses of contemporary literature while simultaneously mining it for everything of value."^{[citation needed]}

The name was meant as a joke; a "gathering of the PJF" was an excuse for writers with shared interests to meet at a bar. Steven Brust took the joke public when he began signing "PJF" after his name on his title pages.

Members have included:

• Steven Brust
• Emma Bull
• Pamela Dean
• Kara Dalkey
• Neil Gaiman
• Adam Stemple
• Will Shetterly
• Jane Yolen

References