Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew H.
And, for that matter, there's probably something to be said for the theory that the popularity of complex 19th century style novels has declined because the 19th century audience for whom it was written - educated, well off, and with large amounts of leisure time - has little in common with the 20th century audience, who tend to be much busier with jobs, etc., and have less time to spend the entire day reading.
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I think part of the loss of popularity in some areas for the 19th century novels is the way they were written. Back when Lew Wallace wrote Ben Hur for example he could take the time to describe the setting in great detail before jumping into the story. Today you can't get away with that, and many people don't have the patience for that because where as he had to paint a vivid mental picture of the setting we can turn on the TV and see the area where a given story is set (assuming it's a real world story). We don't need the long descriptions in order to see Paris for example, or the Sistine chapel. Our ancestors didn't have that option so the long descriptions were necessary.