I feel like we as a society are too quick to call something literature because everybody else calls it literature and too quick to tear something else down because no one else calls it literature.
No one can argue that Shakespeare has not written some of the greatest plays ever written in the English language. They are rightly read in high school English classrooms and have graduate courses in college designed around them. However, I feel like Shakespeare himself would be appalled at students reading his works out of a textbook, struggling with the archaic wording in an attempt to discern the 'deep' meaning. They are plays, meant to be seen, and written to be enjoyed and make the theater money. Dickens was writing for pay. Is he a great writer? Assuredly, but his lasting legacy is grounded in the fact that he was in fact a very good storyteller who wrote engaging, complex dramas set primarily in Victorian London. Literature with a capital L, the kind that gets assigned in college classes, were once very well written stories that people wrote hoping others would like and maybe get something out of, reminiscent of the Emerson quote about great philosophers having once been boys in libraries studying philosophy.
Is Sanderson on that level? is he a great writer? No, but he is a good writer with some powerful themes underlying his plots and characters. I don't understand why there are "novels", at which people tend to turn up their nose, and "Literature", over which people tend to fawn regardless of content. Why are there not simply stories, some better than others, the best of them powerful , engaging works?
Anyway that's my two cents. Sorry for the rant.
No one can argue that Shakespeare has not written some of the greatest plays ever written in the English language. They are rightly read in high school English classrooms and have graduate courses in college designed around them. However, I feel like Shakespeare himself would be appalled at students reading his works out of a textbook, struggling with the archaic wording in an attempt to discern the 'deep' meaning. They are plays, meant to be seen, and written to be enjoyed and make the theater money. Dickens was writing for pay. Is he a great writer? Assuredly, but his lasting legacy is grounded in the fact that he was in fact a very good storyteller who wrote engaging, complex dramas set primarily in Victorian London. Literature with a capital L, the kind that gets assigned in college classes, were once very well written stories that people wrote hoping others would like and maybe get something out of, reminiscent of the Emerson quote about great philosophers having once been boys in libraries studying philosophy.
Is Sanderson on that level? is he a great writer? No, but he is a good writer with some powerful themes underlying his plots and characters. I don't understand why there are "novels", at which people tend to turn up their nose, and "Literature", over which people tend to fawn regardless of content. Why are there not simply stories, some better than others, the best of them powerful , engaging works?
Anyway that's my two cents. Sorry for the rant.
Brandon Sanderson plans 36 books in his 'Cosmere' setting
19/02/2012 11:45:24 AM
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Was Sanderson created by the Writng Gods to counter balance GRRM?
19/02/2012 05:13:07 PM
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I just wish he'd be done with the RJ shit and go back to writing his own books.
19/02/2012 05:40:59 PM
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well, the publication date for that book is set somewhere a year from now..
19/02/2012 07:48:58 PM
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Agreed on both points.....
19/02/2012 08:00:41 PM
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Well, but he is a "fluff" writer from a literary standpoint
20/02/2012 02:16:11 AM
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Not a fluff writer in my mind.....
20/02/2012 03:12:46 AM
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You don't seem to want to hear what I'm saying
20/02/2012 03:51:13 AM
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And I am saying that storytelling is more important.....
20/02/2012 04:52:39 AM
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Storytelling is crucial...
20/02/2012 05:59:57 AM
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A few comments/replies about your post.....
20/02/2012 02:57:16 PM
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You are correct in one respect: all of this is opinion.
20/02/2012 07:01:11 PM
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You sound like one of those nasty "literary elites"!
20/02/2012 08:07:13 PM
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Literature is subjective
21/02/2012 12:26:35 AM
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I agree with your point about reading Shakespeare from textbooks.
21/02/2012 03:18:37 AM
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Never heard of Thomas Mann and the real Mona Lisa.....
21/02/2012 03:34:12 AM
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Conversely, why should I trust the likes of you?
21/02/2012 06:19:18 AM
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Oh, come now...
21/02/2012 10:35:18 AM
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When it comes to evaluating schema, I'm not going to trust someone who only had English 101
21/02/2012 11:26:03 AM
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Larry = snob
21/02/2012 05:34:22 PM
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Amusing
21/02/2012 07:49:20 PM
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Wow, you lack basic reading comprehension skills.....
21/02/2012 08:29:24 PM
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No, I read that and didn't disagree that there couldn't be works that had both (read other comments)
21/02/2012 09:23:31 PM
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Uh...Faust is a play. Doctor Faustus is a novel. The former is Goethe, the latter is Mann. *NM*
22/02/2012 12:00:22 AM
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I suppose fame is relative, but the most famous Doctor Faustus, to me personally, is indeed a play.
22/02/2012 07:29:59 PM
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Wait, let's look at the gross disconnect between two statements.
21/02/2012 01:59:34 PM
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So true about the Mona Lisa.
21/02/2012 07:57:41 PM
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Yes, I was at the Louvre and you are right.....
21/02/2012 08:32:40 PM
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This is where your own rethoric defeats you...
23/02/2012 06:38:54 AM
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Slow down - it may not be the current elites that are hyping it.....
23/02/2012 05:12:47 PM
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Re: Slow down - it may not be the current elites that are hyping it.....
13/03/2012 03:10:12 AM
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Seems like an awful lot.
19/02/2012 08:11:22 PM
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Sanderson is a machine. Also, the books (so far) have been wildly different
20/02/2012 12:50:41 AM
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Re: Sanderson is a machine. Also, the books (so far) have been wildly different
20/02/2012 03:00:17 AM
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Same here- I didn't know about the Cosmere at all until I started poking around online
21/02/2012 03:25:36 AM
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Likewise. After reading Mistborn and Warbreaker I started looking into him more
21/02/2012 06:20:09 PM
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It's likely to stay that way...
20/02/2012 06:22:50 AM
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Confirmation on the Mistborn trilogies. I am so happy. *NM*
20/02/2012 05:38:23 AM
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I am thrilled to see that there will be more stories about Wax and Wayne.....
20/02/2012 03:46:37 PM
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The one issue I had with that book...
21/02/2012 06:21:29 PM
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