tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post6250484924873335689..comments2024-03-25T09:56:16.164+00:00Comments on An Awfully Big Blog Adventure: Does it matter if the Emperor is really naked?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-22384278230008385282011-01-07T21:03:01.682+00:002011-01-07T21:03:01.682+00:00well, yes, and today when I was at lunch with some...well, yes, and today when I was at lunch with some other authors one of them talked about the difficulty of writing your best book first, citing 'Catch 22'.<br />'Buddenbrooks' wasn't Thomas Mann's absolute first, he'd written novellas and short stories, but it was his first novel and it was the kind of book that most people write to crown a lifetime's striving. A pretty hard act to follow. And he himself realised that his first novel, if not his best, was undoubtedly his most popular in Germany - that is also a hard thing to cope with. Also, 'Buddenbrooks' was heavily based on family history 'I recorded,' he said. 'I didn't compose.' So maybe he was struggling with the work of composing and imagining from scratch - a challenge he rose to later. That's my theory, and I think I shall stick to it! Unless something else comes up that convinces me otherwise, of course.Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-59126711588211410692011-01-07T10:20:39.463+00:002011-01-07T10:20:39.463+00:00'Austen is just much more of our time' - t...'Austen is just much more of our time' - that's absolutely the point! If something has literary merit it endures because it has something relevant to *all* times. I don't think being popular in one short time span is enough, but if people still want to read it and get a lot from it years later (when it may in some ways be out of fashion) it has literary merit. So it's tested over time. <br /><br />It doesn't need lots of people to like it immediately, but it needs to contain sufficient universal truths about the human condition to speak to more than a contemporary and socially similar audience. <br /><br />Are we allowed to say that Mann was usually clothed but sometimes (perhaps in this case - I haven't read this book) naked?Stroppy Authorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16560035800075465845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-3297769044966975492011-01-07T03:21:47.224+00:002011-01-07T03:21:47.224+00:00Leslie~
The book that popped into my mind from you...Leslie~<br />The book that popped into my mind from your question about literary merit is The Shack. I did not like that book even though people raved about it. Seems to me the public accepted that book because it was the popular thing to do. I received two copies from two friends and cringed all the way through. I didn't want to finish it but I did finish it so I could give my friends an honest book report. Ha! I'm not a literary whiz so maybe it did have merit ~ but not to me.<br />~ Amy ArnazAmy Arnazhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01822253755633365514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-48505516000160063032011-01-06T21:56:59.268+00:002011-01-06T21:56:59.268+00:00C.S.Lewis's position, in 'An Experiment in...C.S.Lewis's position, in 'An Experiment in Criticism', was that since literary judgements are so subjective, we should use as a criterion 'how the work is read'. In other words, if a book can stand multiple re-reading, if even one reader 'would notice and complain' if a chapter was altered or cut, then - since who is to say if F. R. Leavis's opinion is worth more than mine or yours - we have no option but to agree that the work may be good. <br /><br />He was being provocative, of course, but I've always thought it's a nice democratic idea and he may have had something there.Katherine Langrishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12529700103932422873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-12949231415111874582011-01-06T19:16:33.560+00:002011-01-06T19:16:33.560+00:00James Wood in "How Fiction Works" began ...James Wood in "How Fiction Works" began to persuade me that there is such a thing as intrinsic merit. His is a very conservative position, but nevertheless, the book is a very rewarding read.Andrew Stronghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04875188855955154864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-38435284421941255922011-01-06T12:49:57.648+00:002011-01-06T12:49:57.648+00:00Phew, well that's a big question, Leslie! :) N...Phew, well that's a big question, Leslie! :) Not sure if it is one that can ever be answered to satisfaction, either. There are fashions, of course, in literature. Plenty of authors who were considered good a hundred years ago are no longer so considered. When you compare Jane Austen to Maria Edgeworth, you can see why Austen has survived to be so well loved, and Edgeworth is hardly read except by specialists. Austen is just much more of our time. What's the answer? I dunno...Leilahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02890097085059764567noreply@blogger.com