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Russia was literally still a medieval feudal society in much of the 19th century, so not really representative of civilization at the time. 19th century Britain
by jhbadger 7y ago
Russia was literally still a medieval feudal society in much of the 19th century, so not really representative of civilization at the time. 19th century Britain was home to the "penny dreadful" (cheap books often with a horror or romance angle designed to attract the working class reader)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_dreadful https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_dreadful
- romwell 7y agoMy point is that literature will be just fine without the participation of the 90%. Penny Dreadful existed because Netflix wasn't there. So it will be gone - again, is this a huge loss to the civilization? I don't think there's a sadness that people aren't reading more literature of the Penny Dreadful kind. And as I said, it's not a slippery slope: you don't need the 90% for great literature to exist. Most people will read fewer books. And it's fine.
- sifar 7y agoA thing doesn't need people to be great. It is in itself. It is the people who need a great thing to inspire/guide them. To paraphrase you, Great literature doesn't need the masses, the masses (present and future) need great literature.
- romwell 7y agoLet's not turn to sophisms. We'll have both plenty of readers and great writers even if most people primarily turn to mediums other than books for entertainment. Dispute this.