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What about fiction like American Psycho, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Pride and Prejudice, or The Tempest? Do they not deliver social commentary on the h
by elliekelly 4y ago
What about fiction like American Psycho, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Pride and Prejudice, or The Tempest? Do they not deliver social commentary on the human condition that equals (or maybe even surpasses) 1984? Are you equally dismissive of thrillers and romantic films? Is Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy vapid? Was Titanic a froofy waste of film?
- wincy 4y agoI mean we have a word for those books. Books of literary fiction are worth reading. Which is a tautological statement since literary fiction is just a term snobs who don’t read fiction invented for “books that have special artistic merit so I’ll read them even if they’re fiction”.
- nfw2 4y agoI did not call anything vapid nor a waste of time, nor would I, personally, make the same claim as the article author that any sort of literature is without value to society. My point is that the author of the article was a criticizing a specific category of book, so any counter-argument against that criticism should also be specifically about that form. Just saying "fiction as a whole is valuable" seems both obviously true and not relevant to the discussion.
- elliekelly 4y agoI’m not discussing fiction as a whole. All of my examples were specifically from the thriller and romance genres.
- nfw2 4y agoThen, to clarify, I agree with you. My objection was to the argument used by OP, not with the conclusion.