I wrote about this problem, the problem of
ebooks and the downfall of literature at An American Editor last Thursday. The article provoked a lot of controversy at various websites, with most commenters applauding the floodgate approach and deploring the gatekeeper approach to publishing. As a result of the comments and the hornet's nest I stirred, I have written a 4-part further exploration of the problem. The first article appears today at
An American Editor, and the others will follow this week.
Among the questions to be resolved are these:
- What literary legacy do we want to pass on to our great-grandchildren?
- How do we find and identify the new John Steinbeck, J.D. Salinger, or Ernest Hemingway in the absence of a gatekeeper?
There is no question that anyone who wants to write and publish should be free to do so
IF we have a way to build a consensus as to what newly published work is great literature. As it stands now, in the absence of traditional publishers we have no way to build that consensus. The idea that the Internet community can do it by word of mouth (or word of twittering) is ludicrous -- at least today.
I encourage those interested in the subject to read the articles at An American Editor and express their views.