thoughts on pop literature
Jun. 22nd, 2003 10:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivendellroseHere's someone's interesting opinion column on the recent Harry Potter hype. http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/00000006DE0C.htm
I'm debating whether or not to feel terribly insulted by this article, actually. I'm not exactly the type who reads Tolstoy for fun, nor am I saying that J.K. Rowling's work is literary genius... what I *will* say is that I seriously doubt it's a sign of the destruction of literature, literary consciousness, intelligence, or maturity. Sure, it maybe isn't genius. Neither is most literature--genius is a precious commodity. But just about anything that gets people reading actual books (an 870 page book, no less!) is a good thing. Especially if it's getting *kids* into reading. And I, personally, don't give a crap if they're not reading the most intelligent pieces of literature on the face of the earth--they are READING, and they're enjoying it, and it actually has some good moral standards to offer, as well as just plain fun.
Not nearly enough people in this world are able to say that they consider reading a pleasure and incorporate it into their life on a regular basis. High-and-mighty, holier-than-thou intellectuals like this woman aren't exactly helping that--in fact, if they had their choice, they'd be making it a hell of a lot worse.
Now, if she wants to bitch about commercialism and the making of books, movies, and such into over-hyped merchantile blockbusters that attempt to suck kids (and adults) into buying every damned little thing they can come up with... well, then, her and I might have something to talk about.
I'm debating whether or not to feel terribly insulted by this article, actually. I'm not exactly the type who reads Tolstoy for fun, nor am I saying that J.K. Rowling's work is literary genius... what I *will* say is that I seriously doubt it's a sign of the destruction of literature, literary consciousness, intelligence, or maturity. Sure, it maybe isn't genius. Neither is most literature--genius is a precious commodity. But just about anything that gets people reading actual books (an 870 page book, no less!) is a good thing. Especially if it's getting *kids* into reading. And I, personally, don't give a crap if they're not reading the most intelligent pieces of literature on the face of the earth--they are READING, and they're enjoying it, and it actually has some good moral standards to offer, as well as just plain fun.
Not nearly enough people in this world are able to say that they consider reading a pleasure and incorporate it into their life on a regular basis. High-and-mighty, holier-than-thou intellectuals like this woman aren't exactly helping that--in fact, if they had their choice, they'd be making it a hell of a lot worse.
Now, if she wants to bitch about commercialism and the making of books, movies, and such into over-hyped merchantile blockbusters that attempt to suck kids (and adults) into buying every damned little thing they can come up with... well, then, her and I might have something to talk about.
