So, realistic contemporary fiction is written and set more or less in the present

[conuly]

But time moves on. What, exactly, do you call "realistic contemporary fiction" once it's no longer contemporary? It's not exactly historical fiction either, since writers of historical fiction generally make specific choices in bringing the past to life, ideally with few or no whoppers of mistakes.

I sometimes say "then-contemporary", but... well, it sounds a bit silly, doesn't it?

(On a related note, it looks like now people are less likely to say "issues book" and more likely to say "social issues book", is that accurate? I'm not loving a change that involves using more words to get to the same meaning, but okay.)

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Comments

[redbird]

The problem with "vintage" is that people may think you're talking about a specific physical copy of the book, the way a "vintage dress" means an old dress, not a new dress in a retro style.

I think I'd say something like "a book written in the 1980s," or "a mystery written in the 1980s," letting then-contemporary be the unmarked state. I can't think of a good shorthand for something like a novel written in 1970 and set during the Great Depression. For nonfiction, you could say "a 1970 history of the Depression" or "a biography of so-and-so published in 1970." There, the age of the book might matter, but someone writing in 1970 is unlikely to use the present tense for the beginning of World War II, or refer to Herbert Hoover as "the current president."