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10-20-2004, 06:49 AM | #1 | |||
A Mere Boggart
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: under the bed
Posts: 4,737
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Popularist or Literati?
I thought this topic might be of interest to 'Downers. Let's hope that nobody has posted this one before.
The latest winner of the Booker Prize has been announced, Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty. This is not intended to be a discussion about this particular novel, but following on from comments I have read today, about whether readers are polarised as 'popularists' or 'literati'. As we are all Tolkien fans some may class us in the 'popularist' grouping, simply due to the incredible fame and readership of Tolkien's work. I have posted a link here to the BBC's Talking Point page where I noticed that rather polarised views have been posted about the merits and otherwise of the prize, including what I would class as misguided comments about fantasy fiction. Some comments I picked up on include the anti-popularists: Quote:
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My point is, are readers really 'polarised' to any extent? I would be interested to hear what other 'Downers have to say about this, whether you consider yourself, as a Tolkien fan, in one group or the other, or if, like me, you can't comprehend why readers would so willingly exclude themselves from potentially amazing books? Should Tolkien really be included in the area of 'literary' fiction? P.S. - if it's on the wrong board then I do apologise. I chose 'books' as it's neither a mirthful nor a straightforward topic.
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