Debates over the distinction between fiction and non-fiction typically involve two camps. On the one side are those who insist that because it matters for criticism, there must be a substantive distinction. On the other side are those who insist that because no such distinction is tenable, it must not matter for criticism. I argue that both sides are wrong. Although there is no substantive distinction between fiction and non-fiction that holds for all works at all times, classifying works as fiction or non-fiction can matter. The way it matters turns on how we understand genre classifications.
I consider two different ways of establishing genre classifications, by focussing either on the psychological impact of the labels 'fiction' and 'non-fiction' in reading comprehension, or on the type of achievement that each genre represents. Once we accept that fiction and non-fiction are genres that play a variety of roles in criticism and appreciation, we should accept that works may fall into either category, or both, or neither.
Fiction, Non-fiction, Both and Neither