Quote:
Originally Posted by TGS
Indeed, but if I encounter something by, for example Ernest Hemingway, that I don't like - and mostly I don't like things by Ernest Hemingway - then if I am to express an opinion, given the amount of criticism and analysis that has been accumulated over the years, it is incumbent upon me to say something beyond, "I don't like it because it's literary fiction and literary fiction is rubbish", don't you think.
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Touche. I do agree that we are all entitled to our own opinion on a given writer literary or genre or whatever. The point I was making (as you aknowledged) was just that we should form our own opinion on said book or said writer's body of work rather than just taking the "expert's" at their word. A given critic might think a particular movie was a complete waste of film for example but at least part of his criticism will be based in if he likes the genre of film or not. And the box office receipts might tell a different story than his opinion on that given film. The 1st Never Ending Story movie (based on Michael Ende's book) was like that. The critics didn't care for it, but 2 sequels a mini cartoon series and at least one DVD of further adventures seems to tell a different tale. I'd guess much the same has happened with books before too. The "experts" didn't like it but the reading public did.