Literary Snobbery

HavingCrack

I might start bringing my Steinbeck books on the LUAS in future...maybe girls will try to chat me up with comments over his portrayal of depression era California in the 'Grapes of Wrath'.;)

Damian Duffy

Earthhorse wrote: »

Thought I'm not one of them, some people seem to enjoy the shared exprience of culture more than the culture itself.

You think they enjoy it or don't want to feel isolated from it?

Earthhorse

Maybe a bit of both. I don't share the mindset so can't say.

mikhail

I occasionally act a little snobby about extremely popular crimes against language (e.g. Browne). It's mostly frustration with a culture in which Paris Hilton is more famous than Tom Stoppard. I read a mixture of light stuff and more challenging books.

I detest inverse snobbery though. It's moronic.

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

I nearly got into a fight one time on a train because of a book.


I was reading Mein Kamph. I know I didn't actually think about what it would look like at the time, I just grabbed the book I was reading and left.

Cue dirty looks and comments. One guy asked me why I was reading it and when I told him (general interest/pleasure) he started to get really angry.

I suppose the sight of a 16/17yo reading that book is very strange.

The irony of someone acting in a threatening manner because he objects to someone reading a book by the world's most famous fascist is delicious.

Quality

Tbh I wouldn't read a Chicklit novel in public! Definitely not on a bus train or plane. I do notice whAt people read and would question them on the book or author.


But I do enjoy some chicklit Authors! Nice easy reading!

Sergeant

Reading big books. Very serious business indeed.

hatful

In Turkey recently my friend made a dust jacket out of a4 paper and sellotape so that he wouldn't draw attention to the controversial biography he was reading. I would pass comment in a cafe or on the train if I saw someone reading something that I enjoyed but I haven't seen anything I recognize lots of fantasy, thrillers on public transport.

Ectoplasm

I despise literary snobbery whichever direction it flows. I read a wide range of fiction from classics to contemporary bestsellers and to be perfectly honest, it's for enjoyment. If I'm not enjoying a book, I will move on - it might be a classic or it might be a contemporary novel.

I hate the notion that because I'm reading Dickens, it is somehow more 'worthy' than a popular novel. If I like it, I like it. I'm not too concerned with what other people think about it. Popular doesn't always mean bad, in the same way as it doesn't necessarily mean good.

I also dislike the notion that just because something is a classic I have to like it. I hated 'Wuthering Heights'. Really, I spent much of it wanting to slap Cathy. Do I dismiss it as a good book? No. To be fair, any book that can provoke that level of annoyance out of me has to be connecting on some level

As far as I'm concerned, all reading is good and to each their own. I'll happily argue the merits of a particular book but comparing genres or selecting classics as better or more intellectual than contemporary novels does make me a little nutty.

megadodge

EMF2010 wrote: »

I despise literary snobbery whichever direction it flows. I read a wide range of fiction from classics to contemporary bestsellers and to be perfectly honest, it's for enjoyment. If I'm not enjoying a book, I will move on - it might be a classic or it might be a contemporary novel.

I hate the notion that because I'm reading Dickens, it is somehow more 'worthy' than a popular novel. If I like it, I like it. I'm not too concerned with what other people think about it. Popular doesn't always mean bad, in the same way as it doesn't necessarily mean good.

I also dislike the notion that just because something is a classic I have to like it. I hated 'Wuthering Heights'. Really, I spent much of it wanting to slap Cathy. Do I dismiss it as a good book? No. To be fair, any book that can provoke that level of annoyance out of me has to be connecting on some level

As far as I'm concerned, all reading is good and to each their own. I'll happily argue the merits of a particular book but comparing genres or selecting classics as better or more intellectual than contemporary novels does make me a little nutty.

+1

As far as I'm concerned it's all down to personal taste.

I'll read almost anything, any genre, any era and I couldn't care less what Joe Public thinks of a book I'm reading.

If I like something I'll read it and I'm doing it for my own entertainment, not to fit in or not to show how well-read I am.

By the same token, I don't care if everyone else on the planet likes something, if I've read it and don't like it I don't care if I'm classified as a "snob" or "uneducated" I won't be afraid to say I don't like it.

Permabear

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Valmont

donegalfella wrote: »

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This is news to me! Perhaps The Da Vinci Code will be on the leaving cert syllabus in one hundred years?

Permabear

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