'literary'

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hands up anyone with a good use for the word

― tom west (thomp), Tuesday, 11 May 2004 21:57 (twenty-two years ago)

sigh, I suppose I should get up and ride (beat?) my predictable (dead?)hobbyhorse:

"trying too hard to write something of 'literary' merit almost always results in laughable crap that couldn't stand up to the mediocrest of detective stories"
--signed, Barbara Neely

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 01:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Today's literary novel is tomorrow's remainder-table fodder. Remember this and write something interesting, instead.

― SRH (Skrik), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 05:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, agreed. 'Literary' pretentious genre fiction for snobs. "Oh, I'd never read shit like Dan Brown, I focus more on the literary end of things; Yann Martel and Susan Orleans for me."

― x Jeremy (Atila the Honeybun), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 14:51 (twenty-two years ago)

no one, then

― tom west (thomp), Wednesday, 12 May 2004 17:16 (twenty-two years ago)

It's a perfectly good description of a broad kind of writing - the thing I regard as a mistake is using it as a term of praise.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 14 May 2004 17:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence, that is the last you are going to see of him until he emerges on the other side of his atlantic with his verb in his mouth.
-Mark Twain
"Teach a child to read and he or her will be able to pass a literarcy test."—Townsend, Tenn., Feb. 21, 2001

― Fred (Fred), Friday, 14 May 2004 19:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Oops forgot to mention that the second quote is by George W. Bush.

― Fred (Fred), Friday, 14 May 2004 19:23 (twenty-two years ago)

*choking* Thanks Fred. I needed that.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Friday, 14 May 2004 19:25 (twenty-two years ago)

lol

Man, anyone who is a snob about books is either a pleasure-hating mutant or they don't honestly like books. Books are not something you read or talk about to prove you're smart or cultured. They may be how you become more smart or cultured, or one of the ways, but the further you dig into literature the more you realize that those two terms are completely matters of degree! (And the absolute is unreachable to mortals.)

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Friday, 14 May 2004 22:23 (twenty-two years ago)

jeebus I said "man." I sound like a Chicago baseball manager dodging the press.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Friday, 14 May 2004 22:24 (twenty-two years ago)

no one, then

Well, since the term is thrown about by the publishers and reviewers who wish to make a point that "this book is worth your time more than that genre stuff", and that often the reverse is shown to be true (through the sales figures), I don't think there is anything interesting to add to the fact that it's a stinking heap of bullshit.

― SRH (Skrik), Saturday, 15 May 2004 08:01 (twenty-two years ago)

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