Is it still possible to write great literature ?

Question

What is your opinion ?

Answer 1

You ask an interesting question. Great literature depends upon both the quality of the writer and the quality of the discerning public. Today, writers like Faulkner would probably not even be published simply because of a public that admires people like John Grisham, Danielle Steel and even Dan Brown is incapable of employing real discernment.
To some degree, pop literature has always been around and the great literature we say had endured. I am not entirely sure that we should not be terribly embarrassed to compare what we call great literature today with that of the ages.
I tend to think that the quality of the public is more important in our world than is the writer. We seem, in the present age, to be incapable of recognizing the value of anything which isn't flashy or immediately fulfilling. As Bacon said about books, some are to be tasted while others chewed and swallowed and finally others are to be digested thoroughly. We don't digest books any longer, or even chew and swallow books, in my opinion, and I believe it is because we do not seek an obligation to the truth which may pass from understanding their merit. Of course, I think this deplorable. Because of this, I tend to think that our age incapable of producing great literature.

Answer 2

I have pondered this very thing for more than two years. I would like to write a book. The problem is that publishing companies have made so many contracts with different authors already that it's nearly impossible to get notoriety.

So, can you write great literature? Yes. Can you get it published? That's a very slim chance. Will anyone ever read it after you've finally found a company that will publish it? I'd have to say that there would be very few if any. Our society has tended to lean towards the most popular of authors. I, personally read books by about 6-10 different authors. And that's only because some of the authors have co-written the books by my favorites.

I wish you the best of luck. Maybe you'll become the next Dean Koontz, Stephen King or R.A. Salvatore.

Answer 3

The nice thing about greatness is it is ever evolving. Just like our perceptions of what isn't great. Genius hides where you least expect it. Genius cannot be bought, bottled or sold. It can only be aroused, tested and forced. And even then it's amazing if someone can hold onto it long enough for it to manifest.

Great literature becomes more and more rare as people are more and more money driven. Corporations have replaced mom and dad, financial policies have replaced hard work, and slowly even safety is replacing freedom.

Great art arises from the ashes of failed genius. I guess what I am trying to say is, Genius is a seed. It's hard to grow, it's hard to sow and and it's even harder to work with after you get that far. But if you take it all the way, you beget greatness. People are more focused on simulating, or shocking. Being efficient or profitable. More these things everyday. More the why than the what.

Enough epic talk, I think great literature will be written as long as there are pencils to write with and paper to write on.

Answer 4

Yes... but not for most people. The level of talent that it takes to write truly great literature is something that few are blessed with. Even fewer are blessed with the opportunity (in terms of time, education and not having to put the energy that would otherwise go into writing into making a living). And of those, most lack the drive to perservere in the face of repeated rejection from publishers (Harry Potter was turned down by almost every publisher in England, but Rowling kept going). So it's possible to write great literature, it's just not very likely.

Answer 5

Believe it or not great literature is still out there, but unfortunately we wind up having to really dig and search for it. The mainstream is what sells, but the work that really touches people is hardly even acknowledged because it doesn't reach as many readers. I few years ago I read a book by Norris Church Mailer called Windchill Summer and I really felt a connection with the characters as well as the author. She blended culture, emotion, war, circumstance and religion into this amazing story about three young women who never imagined how closely their lives intertwined.

Another great example of what I feel to be great literature is the work of Amy Tan. Now that's just an opinion, but that's what you wanted. There are a lot of wonderful authors out there, but it will be maybe a hundred years or more before they are truly appreciated for their brilliance.

Edited to add: And if you're looking to write great literature, I say go for it!

Answer 6

I think it is. Just when we think all of the good ideas have been taken, there's always something that proves that theory wrong. I think that the biggest problem with writing great literature nowadays is that it's not as recognized as it used to be, and so if a great book is written it is less likely to be mentioned. People tend not to read as much, and society tends to be more geared toward the bottom line than what constitutes actual greatness. In other words, Nicholas Sparks will continue to outsell Kurt Vonnegut and the fact that writers need money to survive (as we all do) discourages a lot of writers from choosing quality over popularity.

Answer 7

Great literature is being written constantly. I can think of several authors today writing superb work that deserves to stand the test of time. The reason we cannot see great literature as it emerges tends to be because it comes amid a lot of contemporaneous dross, and because we live the same lives as the writers themselves. We can get a picture of what will emerge as great literature, in a time when the dross has been forgotten, by the ways earlier writers were regarded (and regarded themselves). George Eliot was regarded as an outstanding novelist in her day, but she was not popular other than among the intelligensia; Dickens, by contrast, was hugely popular but was often thought somewhat vulgar (though by no means all). After their deaths each writer went through a period in which they were thought less of (this is apparently quite common), before enjoying a resurgence in popularity. Some great writers, like Keats, are not regarded at all during their lives (other than among close friends) and would be astonished at how they are regarded centuries later. Others, like G M Hopkins or Franz Kafka, actively sought to avoid literary achievement, and yet were discovered after their deaths to have produced something quite startling.

So what the great literature being written today will turn out to be is for the future to decide. It will not be based on sales, or even, sometimes, originality, but whether or not their works reach out from their time and draw readers back for generations to come. It is impossible for us to say what it is. But someone somewhere is writing a work of great literature as I waste my time writing this.

Answer 8

No. People want sameness and publishers want hits. Writers end up writing works that are basically copies of previous hits.

If you go in a completely different direction and post it on your blog, chances are not enough people will see it to be proclaimed great literature. It would be declared good obscure literature. I already see this happening in the music industry. The obscure music on the net rivals the popular music by a long shot, but there just isn't enough fans (because they haven't found the work) to be declared great lasting works that would be heard twenty or more years from now.

Answer 9

Yes it is still possible to write great literature. The imagination of people is only held back by the thought that it can't be done. The book is in all of us waiting to get out, all that is stopping us from writing it is ourselves. I've read many books and feel that there are some books out now that I would call great literature.

Answer 10

More people exist today than have ever lived before, resulting in more relationships, more stories and more situations that can be used as inspiration, so there is plenty of source material.

More people are literate than ever before.

So yes, it's still possible to write great literature; in fact it's more likely that great literatiure will be written today than at any time in history.

Great literature, however, is far less likely to be noticed, published, lauded and cherished because it is drowned by the cacophany of words, opinions and spam that is the world wide web.