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overrated novelists
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ducky_72
J. K. Rowling.
How many of the Harry Potter books have you actually read? I used to think the same thing, but reading some of the later books has lead me to think that she is actually a very good author. Possibly even an extremely good one. Maybe her stories aren't as original as some and she may not use 30 pages to describe how a character turns over in their sleep (as Proust does in Du Cote de chez Swann as pretentious people call it), but I seldom come across more gripping stories.
thank you
the_alba
Alternatively, just don't start! Comfort of Strangers is the one I haven't read, but all the rest are too disappointing and feel like a waste of time to read. I would skip him altogether and read David Mitchell instead!
Is he the bloke who wrote Cloud Atlas?
I find it quite interesting that some people really seem to dislike McEwan's stuff. Then again, I am constantly subjected to the incessant ravings of one girl in my class who is totally obsessed with his writing and keeps on telling people that they should read his books, as if they were works of literary genius and we would be most 'uncultured' if we were to decide that we would rather read something else.
Whereas the authors mentioned, apart from JK Rowling, strive t become good novelist, I would argue that Dan Brown is a little different.
Sure, he may not deserve his success, but that doesn't make him overrated. What would make him overrated is if his books were actually critically acclaimed. They aren't, at all.
Sure, he may not deserve his success, but that doesn't make him overrated. What would make him overrated is if his books were actually critically acclaimed. They aren't, at all.
I think I've read everything by McEwan (save the one published two days ago) and feel he's being slightly hard done by here.
I don't quite understand the objections. His writing is too middle class - how exactly? Was Shakespeare's writing too upper class when he wrote about King Lear, Hamlet Prince of Denmark? Are Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, The Winter's Tale, Titus Andronicus, etc etc too middle class? I don't remember Henry James writing about the proletariat - shall we call him 'too middle class'?
Anyway if someone actually lays out some semi-decent arguments as to why he's crap rather than just re-stating what has been said previously, I will reply!
I don't quite understand the objections. His writing is too middle class - how exactly? Was Shakespeare's writing too upper class when he wrote about King Lear, Hamlet Prince of Denmark? Are Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, The Winter's Tale, Titus Andronicus, etc etc too middle class? I don't remember Henry James writing about the proletariat - shall we call him 'too middle class'?
Anyway if someone actually lays out some semi-decent arguments as to why he's crap rather than just re-stating what has been said previously, I will reply!
Nothing actually happens in Saturday, it bears a striking resemblance to Enduring Love, and it's set against the backdrop of the war protests for no reason whatsoever.
englishstudent
I think I've read everything by McEwan (save the one published two days ago) and feel he's being slightly hard done by here.
I don't quite understand the objections. His writing is too middle class - how exactly? Was Shakespeare's writing too upper class when he wrote about King Lear, Hamlet Prince of Denmark? Are Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, The Winter's Tale, Titus Andronicus, etc etc too middle class? I don't remember Henry James writing about the proletariat - shall we call him 'too middle class'?
Anyway if someone actually lays out some semi-decent arguments as to why he's crap rather than just re-stating what has been said previously, I will reply!
I don't quite understand the objections. His writing is too middle class - how exactly? Was Shakespeare's writing too upper class when he wrote about King Lear, Hamlet Prince of Denmark? Are Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, The Winter's Tale, Titus Andronicus, etc etc too middle class? I don't remember Henry James writing about the proletariat - shall we call him 'too middle class'?
Anyway if someone actually lays out some semi-decent arguments as to why he's crap rather than just re-stating what has been said previously, I will reply!
Hackneyed and emotionally trite renderings of the interrelationships of mainly two-dimensional characters through whom is supposedly and portentously reflected our own hopes and anxieties about the state of the nation. But only if we, too, like nothing more than to talk about our godnephew's clarinet lessons over tea through a heady glaze of bourgeois smugness.
This is what McEwan does best. It is not the same at what Henry James does best, which is frame intricately unravelling stories of moral complexity within a writing style as ornate as it is beautiful. The Shakespeare comparison doesn't hold water at all: he was writing out of an ancient tradition of dramatic portrayals of the great and the good. Were he writing now as McEwan's contemporary, he wouldn't still be adhering to that tradition, but like Beckett would have license to write about tramps and secretaries; and what a brilliant job he'd make of it too.
To id.est - Yep, David Mitchell wrote Cloud Atlas, and also Ghostwritten, number9dream, and Black Swan Green, all of which are, in their own way, stunning. What you say about the McEwan fan in your class is kind of how the press deal with McEwan, on a larger scale. The weekend broadsheets convince their readers that unless you buy his books, you are uncultured. That's perfectly true, if by 'cultured' they mean [see above paragraph].
harr
How many of the Harry Potter books have you actually read? I used to think the same thing, but reading some of the later books has lead me to think that she is actually a very good author. Possibly even an extremely good one. Maybe her stories aren't as original as some and she may not use 30 pages to describe how a character turns over in their sleep (as Proust does in Du Cote de chez Swann as pretentious people call it), but I seldom come across more gripping stories.
All of them, except the Deatlhy Hallows. I'm not saying she's a bad author, merely that, as the title suggests, she's overrated.
^ Yes, good point. Some people are confusing overratedness with popularity. If that was the case, chick lit writers and trashy crime fictioneers would be 'overrated'; which they aren't. They just sell lots of books to people who aren't looking for a challenging read.
Overratedness is when a writer is hailed as some kind of genius, but is in fact nothing special.
Like Seamus Heaney!
Overratedness is when a writer is hailed as some kind of genius, but is in fact nothing special.
Like Seamus Heaney!
the_alba
Overratedness is when a writer is hailed as some kind of genius, but is in fact nothing special.
Like Seamus Heaney!
Like Seamus Heaney!
Finally, I've found someone else who feels the same way!
the_alba
Overratedness is when a writer is hailed as some kind of genius, but is in fact nothing special.
Like Seamus Heaney!
Overratedness is when a writer is hailed as some kind of genius, but is in fact nothing special.
Like Seamus Heaney!
Oh right, so there's an objective measure for deciding who warrants critical attention and respect and who doesn't? You should write a letter to the TLS or something!
Or, perhaps slightly more likely, you're applying your own subjective value judgements in a manner that implies objectivity.
englishstudent
Oh right, so there's an objective measure for deciding who warrants critical attention and respect and who doesn't? You should write a letter to the TLS or something!
Or, perhaps slightly more likely, you're applying your own subjective value judgements in a manner that implies objectivity.
Or, perhaps slightly more likely, you're applying your own subjective value judgements in a manner that implies objectivity.
I'm a reviewer for the TLS, as it happens. Being a reviewer requires level-headed objectivity as well as subjective judgment. I never claimed to be setting any critical standard, and was just clarifying a point which separates popular writers such as Dan Brown and J.K. Rowling from overrated writers like X, Y, and Z (you haven't offered any of your own suggestions on this subject, and there's no point in repeating mine). Where have I said that my opinions on literature are the only objectively correct ones? I don't believe they are, but I wouldn't be much of a reviewer if I didn't argue them forcefully and stand by them.
Spica P.
What about Christopher Paolini? Do you guys really think his books are that good or is it just because he's young? Personally I didn't find anything special when reading "Eragon".
I believe Eragon was first published only because his parents ran a publishing firm, or something along those lines.
Which says it all, really.
I think Dickens is a bit over-rated. Well, maybe not over-rated, but people look for too much in his novels. My AS coursework was about Great Expectations and how it was making a daring statement about society and the effects of money. I felt it was just a rags to riches story with a little moral bit stuck in the end.
I don't care for Hardy's novels that much, but his poetry is excellent. Jane Austen has always bored me.
I don't care for Hardy's novels that much, but his poetry is excellent. Jane Austen has always bored me.
burntgorilla
I think Dickens is a bit over-rated. Well, maybe not over-rated, but people look for too much in his novels. My AS coursework was about Great Expectations and how it was making a daring statement about society and the effects of money. I felt it was just a rags to riches story with a little moral bit stuck in the end.
I don't care for Hardy's novels that much, but his poetry is excellent. Jane Austen has always bored me.
I don't care for Hardy's novels that much, but his poetry is excellent. Jane Austen has always bored me.
I couldn't agree more.
Spica P.
What about Christopher Paolini? Do you guys really think his books are that good or is it just because he's young? Personally I didn't find anything special when reading "Eragon".
I think his books are very poorly written. The characters are the worst I've seen in a long time and the conversations are not at all realistic. The plots are predictable and unoriginal.
However I've read both Eragon and Eldest several times and am planning on purchasing the third book, so what do I know? There's just something about the books which makes me keep on reading them however frustrated I get at the writing style.
Hashshashin
I believe Eragon was first published only because his parents ran a publishing firm, or something along those lines.
Which says it all, really.
Which says it all, really.
People buy the books though. He may have been published because of his parents, but that doesn't explain why he's been so successful.
harr
People buy the books though. He may have been published because of his parents, but that doesn't explain why he's been so successful.
I'd argue that it does. After all, without his parents Eragon might never have been published at all, and even if another publisher had taken it on, it would never have recieved the initial level of publicity that his parent's provided it with.
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