Quote:
Originally Posted by Direct Ebooks
I have qualifications in English and Education, am an avid reader and own an eBook store and publishing services firm and I still struggle to accept that a published work is great literature because the consensus says so. I enjoy Michael Connolly, Shakespeare, Chandler, and Cormac McCarthy in equal measure. I love Military history, thrillers, drama and the odd bit of poetry. Different styles and genres mean different things to me, but all are enjoyed. I will equally put down a great published work if I dislike it or don't "get it."
Why do we have to be so decisive and divisive on these issues?
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The question whether someone "enjoys" a book is separate from whether it has any literary merit. By having literary merit I don't mean anything more that it is judged to have literary merit by those who are in a position to make such judgments - people who have training, education, experience and knowledge. Just to head off the charges of elitism that will inevitably follow from me saying that, it's no more elitist than saying that someone who has the training, education, experience and knowledge to enable them to repair my car is in a far better position to tell me what's wrong with it than I am myself, no matter how much I protest that I've been driving for thirty years.