09-20-2012, 07:45 PM | #166 | |
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09-20-2012, 08:01 PM | #167 |
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09-20-2012, 09:48 PM | #168 |
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There are three definitions competing here:
Good = any given reader's opinion of the work. This will vary across the entire spectrum for any given book. For example my first book currently has 14 five star reviews, and 5 one star reviews. So for some the book was "good" for others it was not. Good = Lots of people bought the book. The Christian Bible is the best selling book of all time, but it is probably fairly low down on the "people have actually read the book" list. This is true of many of the "best sellers" out there. They are called "good" because the market as determined them be highly sellable. Good = Some scholars and other erudites have labeled it good. This is most of your classics like Moby Dick, Shakespeare, and so on. I would guess most people have never read them, and they are often free to acquire, but have achieved "good" status because someone that people think should know, said they were. Frankly, I only care about the first definition. |
09-21-2012, 03:02 AM | #169 | |||
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09-21-2012, 03:32 AM | #170 | |
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Good = It's stood the test of time. Dickens wasn't a "highbrow" writer; he was writing serials for weekly or monthly magazines - the "soap operas" of his day. Shakespeare even more assuredly wasn't - he was writing popular entertainment for the masses. The reason that both have remained popular for such a long time is that they were writing about the human condition, and that's timeless. I don't need someone in an ivory tower to tell me that "Great Expectations" is a great novel - I've read it myself many times and I know for myself that it's a great novel. There are few, if any, writers, who have created as many characters as Dickens which have entered the popular culture of the English-speaking world. If we say that someone is a "Scrooge", we all know what that means even if we haven't personally read "A Christmas Carol". He was truly one of the greatest novelists ever to write in English, and THAT's why his books are (rightly) regarded as timeless classics. Last edited by HarryT; 09-21-2012 at 03:44 AM. |
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09-21-2012, 07:32 AM | #171 | |
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And Alexandre Dumas did the same. He wrote serialized stories for the masses. Apache |
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09-21-2012, 07:36 AM | #172 |
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I'm always a bit confused why people seem to have a need to come up with alternate explanations (that often involve high-brow conspiracies) for a "classic's" continued popularity. Occam's razor and all.
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09-21-2012, 07:43 AM | #173 | |
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09-24-2012, 01:27 PM | #174 |
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09-24-2012, 06:42 PM | #175 |
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09-24-2012, 07:58 PM | #176 | |
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I dislike Dickens and Shakespeare, to me they are not very good. I will most likely not read their works even though they are available for free. I am not sure what this means. |
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09-24-2012, 09:31 PM | #177 | |
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Unlike most classic novels, Moby Dick has never been a bestseller. But it might be that people who buy Moby Dick are more likely to finish it than people who buy Harry Potter books. We just don't know. Right now I am reading Wandering Star, published in 1911. Does that make it a classic? Don't know, don't care, it is wonderful. And I can assure Giggleton that Sholem Aleichem wouldn't have written it without copyright Last edited by SteveEisenberg; 09-25-2012 at 06:58 PM. |
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09-24-2012, 10:11 PM | #178 | |
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Yeah, I disagree with HarryT. I think his "4th" definition is really my 3rd one dressed up in fancier cloths. I have read Dickens, and others of the "classics" and I do not see how they are all that much better then the best authors we have today. BUT this is all subjective so there is really no right or wrong. |
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09-25-2012, 11:17 AM | #179 | |
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Shakespeare is still performed 400 years later. Part of that is because is can be performed for free, but that's not all of it, there are a vast number of playwrights whose work could be performed for free, but they are rarely performed. People adapt Shakespeare for movies, and people pay to watch. People know the basic plots of the stories, even if they haven't seen or read one of his plays (plays are really meant to be wached rather than read). People routinely quote Shakespeare, and the references are understood. I'm not saying that people have to like Shakespeare, or Moby Dick or Dickens. There are classics that I don't like, but this doesn't make them bad books, or mean that I am wrong not to like it. Their enduring popularity isn't due to academic decree. Academics can make people study a fossil, but can't make it live. |
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09-25-2012, 07:55 PM | #180 | |
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That link for wandering star lists print copies of the book for sale at 1 penny a piece. |
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