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Originally Posted by Elfwreck;2079391
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2010[/B]: 3,000,000+ new books in the US. If 300 of them are going to last... that's .01%. The majority of readers--even avid readers who go through more than 50 books a year--will never have heard of the handful that are going to last. |
It doesn't work like that. If nobody reads them they don't magically become classics, they simply become ignored and forgotten. It is really a case of who will discover the great works lest they be forgotten these days? The issue that you bring up has been noted by Henry James, who realized that by the end of his life he could no longer keep up with all published literature.
But still despite these worries moving into the 20th century great authors were discovered. And I think that it will always be that way. Greatness transcends the sheer quantity of published works and shines bright. But of course I'm sure there are authors whose literary merit is significant, but go unread. So it goes.