Why does no one here know about actual literature?

Question: Why does no one here know about actual literature!?

Folks, I come to you in kindness but will say none of the posts I am reading are talking about real literature!. Stephanie Meyer, John Grisham, James Patterson and so on do not write literature but only books for bored people to read!. Has anyone read Philip Roth or John Updike or Thomas Pynchon!? These guys are real writers and not book pushers (people preying on young and immature minds and just wanting to turn a dollar)!. I am seriously appaled how no one is talking about real books but instead cheesy thrillers!. Anyone agree!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

Stephenie Meyer, John Grisham and James Patterson are amazing authors!. I'm really not seeing how people can determine "real literature" from "fake literature"!. Who sets the standards for that kind of categorization!?! There is no set bar for good and bad, classic and comtemporary!. It's all a matter of opinion!. But "real" and "fake" is a whole new ball game!. Literature is literature is literature, a thousand times over!

Literature is: "The body of written works of a language, period, or culture!." (taken offline from answers!.com)

There is no real and fake to that!. No black and white, light and dark, true and false!. Literature just is!.

also, ALL books are just written for bored people to read! Well, unless it's a text book, but that doesn't really count!. those are published for teaching purposes, and somehow, i doubt Philip Roth, John Updike and Thomas Pychon write math books!.

And I'm not really sure how you can call James Pattersons thrillers 'cheesy'!. They're everything a thirller should be: suspenseful, dark, and twisted!.

I find this terribly offensive, especially since you said that only people with "young, immature minds" read James Patterson, Stephenie Meyer and John Grisham!.

Litureature has no real or fake!.

Literature!. IS!.

?Graceful Little Alice?

PS: Quite honestly, I'd really love to see you try to write anything better!. See how difficult it really is to write that many books and have them sell as well as Meyer, Patterson and Grisham do!. Good luck!. You'd need it!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I think that many of us who regularly contribute in B&A know at least as much about "real literature" as you do!. I read everything from series mysteries to oh, let's just say Solzhenitsyn, just to keep his name alive!. I have read everyone whom you named as a real writer, and many more besides!. I value them highly and my yards and yards of shelves are filled with them!. Right next to John Sandford, and several other genre authors whom I value just as highly, if somewhat differently!. Books give different things to different people at different times!.

If the level of discourse here does not meet your needs perhaps you could toil in service to elevating it!. You might be surprised by the literary secrets that some of us could reveal!. I'll watch for you as I continue to try to offer sincere answers to sincere questions about whichever book it is that suits the reader's fancy!. Any book is better than no book at all and I respect anyone who cares enough to ask about what they are reading!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

If you don't consider William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Homer, Jane Austen, John Steinbeck, William Faulkner, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Victor Hugo, and any number of other luminaries, authors of true literature, I'd agree with you (almost)!.

Though you may find many questions on popular fiction authors and books, you also will find questions concerning books which are considered true literature!. I don't consider all current novels which aren't classified "literature" to be mere trash or "cheesy thrillers," as you put it!. There are books worth reading which aren't in the category of true literature!.

You may also find a wide variety of opinions concerning what is literature and what is not!. X may say this author's works are literature, while Y says that same author's works are poorly written!.

Keep in mind this section is called "Books & Authors" and not "Literature & Classic Authors!."Www@QuestionHome@Com

Hey, now!. I've read "actual literature!." Granted, I've never read anything by the authors you mentioned, but I'll read a classic over a contemporary novel any day!. However, I do like to read modern novels ("books for bored people to read," as you call 'em), too -- it's all about personal preference!.

Please don't get offended at this, but frankly, your question just makes you sound like a snob!.

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Edit - One last thought!. I agree with you to a point!. The Twilight hype has overtaken this board, and it's annoying as heck!. Unfortunately, though!.!.!. all we can really do is wait it out!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

For you to say that *no one* here knows about "actual literature" is silly!. You'd also be mistaken to assume that only "young and immature minds" seem to be the only ones who have no interest in classic literature - I wish I'd be able to tell you how many adults, on and off B&A, rather stick to books on the best seller list!.

I love "the classics" and I think it's a shame that more people aren't taking the time to read the books that have shaped literature into what it is (or, rather, what it should be) today!.

I'm not going to get all high and mighty, though - as long as people are still reading and school's are still teaching the necessary literature, I have nothing to complain about!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I will agree that the endless number of Twilight questions, and I use the term "questions" loosely, are annoying but I do think it's good that these books are getting people to read!. Perhaps reading the Twilight series will inspire some teenagers to pick up Dracula!. Maybe that will lead them to other classics!.

Just browsing through this section, tonight, I am seeing fewer Twilight questions!. I've also seen a few questions for Pride And Prejudice & a few other classics!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

"Fluff" has its place too!. Sometimes the "fluff" is what gets people interested in reading and gives them the itch to read more, and leads them to heavier stuff!. (Like a gateway drug, but in a good way)!. Besides, I am not one to get all snobby about "high" art!. What's more, you need to consider the audience!.!.!. if you want discussions of Pynchon you need the New Yorker, not Y/A (OMG) But I read heavy plenty, and sometimes I want to pick up something easier!.!.!.!. mental sorbet (if you want to use a "arty" analogy)Www@QuestionHome@Com

After 40 hours a week at work, MA classes in the evenings, dinner, laundry, dishes, etc!. sometimes a 'book for bored people' is all we can handle!. I'm not trying to be snide, just honest!.

It can be wonderful, even life-changing, to read the works of those who are above the level of 'book pusher,' but really, it can be exhausting too!. And so I speak for those of us who feel we're well-read simply because we read well!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I love the classics: Rafael Sabatini, Alexandre Dumas, Robert Louis Stevenson, Snorri Sturluson, Socrates(ok, ok, really, it's Plato) and all of the other wonders!. I study literature in my spare time!. Literature, storylines, word usages, and so on!. It's my life!. I hope you would count that as real reading, because my classical education private school does!Www@QuestionHome@Com

i've read many classics including
pride and prejudice
to kill a mockingbird
gone with the wind
the lord of the rings
etc!.
and yeah, you sound like a book snob!. just because a book's not old and difficult to understand doesn't mean it's not good!.

you should try the book thief and i am the messenger by markus zusak, speak by laurie halse anderson, and other books of that type to see that fiction geared towards younger people can be good too!.

and i see that most people here agree with me (you go dani!)

*celebrindal*Www@QuestionHome@Com

Thomas Pynchon!?! Yeah, and how come no one on Yahoo! Answers is discussing Ulysses!. =P Anyway, start a discussion on John Updike and I'll join in!. In the meantime, I'll be helping teenagers 'publish' their 'novels'!. :)Www@QuestionHome@Com

I agree!. However, you are being a little stereotypical here when you say NO ONE knows about actual literature!. I read Gravity's Rainbow, thank you very much :)Www@QuestionHome@Com

I agree and James Patterson annoys the hell out of me with his TV commercials for his books!. It's disgusting!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

yes, I agree!. That's why I don't visit this section very often!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I definitely get what your saying I mean i just finished reading Stephanie Meyer and her book is targeted at girls my age (15-18) but I didn't fall for it because I knew real literature when I see it!. But sometimes the real literature that really needs to be read is overwhelming sometimes you want something a bit shallow something easier to relate to!. I mean that its easier to relate to Stephanie Meyer than Ray Bradbury!.

But don't count them out yet, because of those authors at least the youth of America are picking up and reading!.!.!. would you rather them not!? I mean is better for them to read trash than nothing at all!? I mean its nice to talk to my friends about books instead of MTV even if it;s Stephanie Meyer, also John Grisham isn't that bad not everyone can be J!.R!.R!.Tolkien and will James Patterson, well I just have more important things to do than write about him!.!.!. Anywaysz what I'm saying is to see this as a first step to the upper echelon that is good ole fashion literature!.!.!. until then let them gripe about books they're actually readingWww@QuestionHome@Com

Honestly, I can't agree with what you're saying!. To lump us all into one category is a pretty hasty generalization!. The endless questions about the Twilight saga are irritating, I admit, not only because they are spoiling the series for me while I'm still in the beginning of the saga, but because the people asking don't bother to search for their questions before posting new ones; we end up with dozens asking "what did you think of blahblah!?"

On the other hand, just because there aren't the same amount of questions regarding the classics doesn't mean we don't read them!. I've read Louisa Alcott, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Rudyard Kipling, and other classic authors, and I've enjoyed some of their works and disliked others!.

I agree with all who posted before me, sometimes it's just your personal preference!. And being classics doesn't make them automatically wonderful to read!. I had to read Great Expectations and "Jack Maggs" for a college English class and I hated both books!. But I read them!. Oliver Twist was wonderful to read!. I could not get past the first few pages of Robinson Crusoe, it was so dull!.

I bet others here have read classics, and the 'cheesy thrillers' as well!. The world of readers is not black and white!. Have you read anything by these so-called 'book pushers!?' They do bring out really great books that are worth the time to read!. I would recommend you try!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I beg to differ - many of us here have read "actual" literature!. In fact, personally it was one of my minors at University!.

As many have said before me, there is certainly a place for "just for fun" reading just as there is a place for the reading of classics and deeper literature!. I read a wide range of authors, and many of my favorites happen to be classic literature authors but every once in a while a person needs to read simply for entertainment!. I'm not saying that classic literature isn't entertaining but often what makes it classic is that there is a deeper meaning or more elegant language or something of that sort that takes more brain cells to read than perhaps Harry Potter does!. That doesn't mean one should dismiss such books however!.
Some of my favorite authors are C!.S!. Lewis, J!.R!.R!. Tolkien, Bram Stoker, Alexandre Dumas, William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Robert Louis Stevenson, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Lewis Carroll, Miguel de Cervantes and Oscar Wilde!.
Alongside whom I enjoy the writing of J!.K!. Rowling, Anne Rice, Isobelle Carmody, and Holly Black though perhaps not to the same extent!.

I agree that at first glance there seems to be an overabundance of questions about Twilight and other inane books but if you stick around for a while and manage to sift through those questions you'll see questions about the classics and many people with answers to those questions!.Www@QuestionHome@Com