Quote:
Originally Posted by OtterBooks
I think the most one can say is that popularity is independent of quality. Since the word "popular" itself is generally defined in terms of quantity, the only thing it does by definition is illustrate the quality of marketing and/or consumer desire. If those two things are inherently related to quality, then McDonalds is quality food. ...
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I don't think the McDonalds analogy works. There are scientific (even if sometimes still debated) assessments that can be made with regard to the nutritional value of food. (I guess you could try to run something like nutrition vs education and taste vs good-writing or something ... but that gets messy, those pickles will drop out.
) There is no equivalent with writing or other such art.
It took considerable prodding some posts ago before I finally accepted that people talking about good and bad writing here really are talking about their opinion no matter how it is expressed. There is, it seems, no accepted standard of quality with respect to writing. There is what will get you a pass at school, but that will vary from teacher to teacher. There is what will get you a pass from various grammar experts, but even that will vary with person and time. And there is what will reach your intended audience, but that only gets you popularity and not credibility among critics.
I do like your noting of Dickens' popularity at the time he was writing - didn't someone some posts ago equate popularity with mediocrity? It could be curious to wait another 100..150 years and see which of today's popular authors are considered to have written classics and great literature.
