I Suppose The Moral Is 'Read Jane Austen'

[redbrunja]

beforetv had a great round up of links regarding e-book sales, reader shaming, the classics, + rebuttals. It's well worth giving a read. My two cents? These elitist ideas about what is worth reading and why it's worth reading are really damaging to the general reading population.

Speaking personally, I feel that it's important to add in a sprinkle of the classics and current lit fic to my selection of genre reading (which I was actually better about doing in my childhood - I randomly picked up Jane Eyre at a super-young age) because a.) I find it intellectually satisfying (i.e. I enjoy doing so) and b.) I really, really love participating in the extended cultural conversation that is only possible when you can recognize the references. To use an example that would make elitist snobs scream, do you know how much more enjoyable reading Bridget Jones' Diary is when you know the author is referencing/riffing on Pride and Prejudice? Or when you have read Sense and Sensibility and thus, when Suzanne Brockmann says that Sophia's favorite book is S&S and her favorite character is Marianne, you are aquiver with squee because oh my god narrative parallels! Romantic relationship parallels! So much insight!

But it is important to note, I am an English major. If someone wants to read romance novels about pirates and only wants to read romance novels about pirates, that is totally fucking okay. And is not somehow inherently inferior (in a way that no one can articulate - or at least articulate without sounding like a total elitist douchebag) from only and exclusively reading authors whose works can be found in the pages of the New Yorker.

Also, because it seems relevant and I love love love this article: Why The Best Kid's Books Are Written In Blood.

Comments

[qualapec.livejournal.com]

It is a topic that never ceases to feel like sandpaper on my face.

This is the bane of my English class existence. My 9th grade English teacher said sci-fi wasn't literary, for example. Last year, my creative writing prof and I got into a handful of arguments about what constituted "art", namely when I was defending a classmate that wanted to write books for children about a race of lizard people...who he was frankly a little disrespectful to. His critique was pretty much, "Okay, you can write that, but you have to change everything about it" which isn't constructive imo.

He was a cool guy normally, but all of the things we read or watched in that class had this ridiculous emphasis on shallow sex, violence, and a disconnected, incoherent narrative (mostly the result of drug use on part of the narrator). One that I remember in particular was this one about a beautiful, middle aged woman trying to get over her drug problem by fucking a fat, homeless, greasy, possibly crazy guy who was always threatening to kill her. That is NOT art. That's wishful thinking, and it seriously grated against me that that bullshit would always get more respect than romance, YA, or children's lit.

I think it's amazing that the most open minded view I've gotten about imagination and creativity is in the video game design class I'm taking now. Granted, games haven't had the chance to be elitist yet, and they've been constantly laughed off from an academic standpoint, so it makes sense that the emphasis there is on the Everything is Okay end of things, but it's given me a whole new perspective on what 'imagination' means to people, and how theater of the mind relates to creative writing. It helps articulate a lot of the things I've always felt about people being all snooty about one genre over another and solidify why that's pointless/not okay.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that kind of attitude used to really bug me as well. Luckily, once I hit a point in higher education, most of my teachers didn't have that bias.

when I was defending a classmate that wanted to write books for children about a race of lizard people...who he was frankly a little disrespectful to. His critique was pretty much, "Okay, you can write that, but you have to change everything about it" which isn't constructive imo.

That's totally unconstructive! All that says is that there is only one way to write a good story or one type of story that's worthwhile, which is total bullshit.

this ridiculous emphasis on shallow sex, violence, and a disconnected, incoherent narrative (mostly the result of drug use on part of the narrator). One that I remember in particular was this one about a beautiful, middle aged woman trying to get over her drug problem by fucking a fat, homeless, greasy, possibly crazy guy who was always threatening to kill her. That is NOT art. That's wishful thinking,

Oh, that is BLATANT wish-fulfilment. I kind of have the feeling this teacher was writing to his kinks, and that was it. Bastard.