Here is a speech Ursula Le Guin made recently, 'Some Assumptions about Fantasy' :
http://www.harcourtbooks.com/AuthorI...inBEASpech.asp
She raises a number of interesting and valid points in a characteristically well-reasoned, courteous but clear sighted fashion. Nothing earth-shattering for anyone who has been contemplating the nature and meaning of fantasy fiction, but the even-toned manner in which Le Guin makes her points is, I think, as intructive as the points she makes.