It's good to see so many interesting comments on this topic. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks as though most 'Downers agree that while there is a divide, there certainly should not be one.
I think if anyone looked at my bookshelves, they would class me as 'literati' (Fordim has been honest about this, and so will I!), but I most certainly would
not want to be perceived in that way. As Mithalwen says, life is too short to persist with reading a book which is not enjoyable, and there are many so-called 'literary fiction' novels which I most firmly have
not enjoyed. Likewise, I have also read a number of bestsellers which I have also not found particularly satisfying or even readable. Luckily, bestsellers are usually much cheaper so I don't feel quite so cross about having wasted my money. And one not inconsiderable factor in this, is that I do not feel to have been 'judged and found lacking' for being unable to get on with a bestseller - which is often the case with a work of 'literary fiction'.
I gave up on following the book reviews a long time ago, as I found that the TLS was far too snooty, and often lauded books which I found dry, while they were beautifully constructed, for me the essential pleasure comes from a good story, well told. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find reviews elsewhere so I often rely on either word of mouth from trusted friends or simple browsing.
Where does this divide originate? I have thought about whether it is a case of marketing, but if so, then why do more writers of 'literary fiction' not push to be marketed as bestseller writers? Surely they
want to make more money? Or is it that so many of these writers already have lucrative careers as journalists, popular academics (i.e. not the poverty stricken academic lurking in a dusty cupboard-come-study in a provincial university!) and general media types? If it is this latter explanation, then this would go some way in explaining the situation with snooty reviewers - they would all be friends!
I've become loathe to deride books or genres which I do not like, as once I flamed on a workplace discussion board about
Bridget Jones' Diary and owing to the comments I made was accused of being a snob. When I sat and thought about it, I
was being a snob, and I'm eternally embarrassed.
I
know that if someone wrote the kind of comments which I had produced about Tolkien's work, then I would have been as outraged as these people were!
I'm not going to go into what I dislike reading, given the above, but I'm quite happy to admit I enjoy popular series like Harry Potter and Earth's Children (I still have to temper this with a little criticism, by way of proving how Tolkien is
the master of the genre
). The critics can be pervasive, particularly if you've had the misfortune to study English at degree level, but I refuse to allow them to effectively dictate my leisure time! As my writing tutor once told me, it's all very well showing how technically clever you are at writing, but if readers don't want to buy it, then who will?