I do believe that there is a difference between works that are prized as literary work, and ones that are recognized as "best-sellers". If a work is deemed literary, it is usually an older book that reflects on important social topics that are prevalent in our culture. These books' topics stay relevant throughout the years, and the messages they try to send out are timeless.
However, a book that is only seen as a best seller is usually only popular for a few weeks, until the heat about them does down. These works are usually only seen as good works because people talk about them enough to get attention pointed at them. Most of the time, they are only brought into being seen as best sellers because of controversy surrounding them. An example of a book like this is the entire Fifty Shades series. All three of those books have been on the best sellers list for about 35 weeks, all because of the controversy surrounding them.
I agree that most literary books contain different controversial social issues. To Kill A Mockingbird is a good example of this because it' address the problem of racism. But when I read Twilight, I didn't feel like there was any deeper meaning. I enjoy books that have these issues behind the words.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you. I think literary books consist of older, classic books with social issues from that time period. And I think that best sellers are only on the list until everybody stops talking about them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point about popular works containing controversy but I'd also add that controversy is just one of the things created by the public that puts books on the rise. With Twitter, Facebook and all the other social medias out there, public intrest can grow tremendously in a short amount of time.
ReplyDeleteI agrre with your point, that littary works need to be old and reflect on social topics. however i believe thats not all thats needed to make it a litary work, it needs to have meaning when you read it it can effet you on multiple levels or just change/ give you a new view point. Some old works can be old and have social topics in them, but that doesnt mean that they are liturature. Liturature needs to scale the span of time staying poplular and well known. Or becuse of its movig story or just how beautifully it is written. I agree with the fact that best sellers are not liturature because they are poplualr for a few weeks, but thats because its a new book, I think we need to rember that all books were new some point in time, and maybe when they were first published society didn't agree with them or it took time for people to enjoy it.
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