JIM DOHERTY wrote:
To say that one kind of writing is literature and another is
not is whole other kind of judgment, one in which quality has
no real bearing.
************ The quality which has a bearing on whether
writing becomes literature is that of endurance. It has to
have something in it that resonates down through the ages,
leaving the period pieces to gather dust on the shelf. What
determines this staying power is a prime question of interest
in the study of literature.
My analogy stands. The parallel between genius in people and
endurance in literature is that they are both generally
considered favorable attributes in their groups. To complain
that calling some writing literature is dismissive to other
writing is the same as complaining that calling some people
geniuses is dismiss to other people.
miker
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