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A few years ago I did a Focus Group for a book publisher.
They wanted to test out some marketing ideas and the interviewer,
in order to warm us up, asked us what we liked to read. Most
people in the room named an author or a genre but one man
said: "I only read literature."
I was struck by that statement: "I only read literature."
What did he mean? One way to take his statement is that he
read everything. All of a society's writings can be considered
its literature. But that wasn't quite right. It was obvious
that he didn't read everything. He was actually looking
down his nose at those of us who read Stephen King, Jackie
Collins, or Agatha Christie. What he meant to say was that
he read only the works found in the "Literature"
section of his favorite book store. Somehow, that they weren't
labeled Science Fiction, Romance, Mystery, or Horror, made
them better. I then wondered if this man was afraid to like
'popular' fiction. Maybe he thought it made him look uneducated
or common. And then I had to smile.
I have no doubt that if I had said to this person: "So,
you read Dickens, Poe, and Shakespeare," he would have
said: "of course." But Dickens, Poe, and Shakespeare
were all the literary hacks of their day. Had you been alive
when they lived, you wouldn't have called their works literature.
Shakespeare wrote about fairies playing tricks on people
as they comically chased each other through the woods (A Midsummer
Night's Dream); people being haunted by ghosts, killing family
members, going insane, killing innocent bystanders, plotting
against the government (Hamlet); and teenagers disobeying
their parents, having secret weddings, gang fights in the
streets, and committing suicide (Romeo & Juliet).
Poe wrote dark and disturbing dreams about people being buried
alive (The Cask of Montillado), or tearing out somebody's
heart (The Tell-Tale Heart), or grisly murders in Paris (The
Murder in the Rue Morgue).
Dickens wrote about misers being haunted by spirits (A Christmas
Carol); love and loss against the backdrop of bloody revolution
(A Tale of Two Cities); prostitutes, orphans, thieves, and
injustice (Oliver Twist).
But all of these writers wrote Literature.
The truth of the matter is that every writer writes literature.
It is time, talent, and the love of the readers (and not the
opinions of some snotty elitist) that decides if what they've
written is Literature. It all comes down to touching the hearts
and minds of your readers. Some of the greatest works in history
were nothing more than the Romance, Horror, or Mystery novel
of their day. They were just too good to be forgotten and
in time were magically transformed into Literature. But call
it what you will, it's being enjoyable and accessible to everyone
that makes the difference.
So, if you're ever embarrassed by the fact that you read
'popular' fiction -- don't be. J.K. Rowling's "Harry
Potter" novels will be remembered for a long, long, time.
(Just look at how many people anxiously await each new release.)
Instead, be proud of the fact you read these works. You are
far more sophisticated and educated than you know. Because
over time, when people begin to refer to these books as Literature,
you'll be able to smugly say that you read them first - when
they were just popular.
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