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Originally Posted by radagastly
Are all books popular with the literati good books? No. As proof of that I offer three words: The Great Gatsby. I could offer many others of similar ilk, but those will do as a summary.
Fordim: Of the three titles you mention, I noticed Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. This brings up to me a related dilemma that has bothered me for years for some reason. It's clearly a pet peave of mine, and perhaps it's the actor in me, but I have never understood the need for students of literature to co-opt certain pieces of drama and call them literature so they can be studied as such. To me, a play on paper without actors and a stage is no more a work of art (good or bad) than a blueprint is a cathedral or sheet music is a concert. I was wondering if this is the one you think is "not good" (quite awful!)?
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I am not sure that a play only becomes a work of art when it is performed - there is the art of the writer and the artistry of the interpreters... and sometimes the latter can corrupt the former especially without extensive directions....( but I think, Pinter directed one of his own works without any of hte famous pauses once) . Sadly it is beyond my skill but I have musician friends who can browse sheet music as I can a novel. I remember one picking up a volume in a shop and after turning a few pages announcing that she had found a new friend - it freaked me out that she could look at the notes on the page and know she would like the music, but I guess I can read a play in the same way. My own Literature degree included a compulsory practical drama course though which helped with this though.
I do enjoy the Harry Potter books , though I think No 5 could have used a serious edit, and though she is clever and witty and knows her folklore, she is not in the same league for creativity as Tolkien, but I think she has been very clever at structuring her novels so far. I know this is going to sound so Anoraky but even as a very novice stargazer, I noticed that the OWL astronomy question was an impossibility -Orion, in June , in Scotland ... I think not.... Yet Tolkien's is spot on and according to Home he even had names for the planets that are not visible to the naked (and presumably even elvish eye).