Can great Literature be written in the 21st century?

Answer 1

Certainly. But don't count on it being recognized as great until more like the 22nd century. It takes time for the value of a literary work to make itself known. Best sellers are seldom (won't say never) great literature.

Then again, we need a clear definition of "great literature," don't we? Since most people tend to say things like "having stood the test of time," at least as part of their definition, I would not be in a hurry to label anything "great literature." I would unhesitatingly refer to a great book as such; but "literature" is a term of art from Academia, and I don't pretend to know what they mean by it. I will probably not use the term in my bookstore, but refer to "classics" instead.

Answer 2

It can and it will. We are in the first years of the Century, and in addition we are just entering a worldwide Crisis time. Things seem confusing and meaningless now, but within a few more years the conflict will be taking on a definite form, and within 20 years at most there will be victory on one side or the other. Unless we get bombed back into the stone age, which I doubt. This will provide ample material for a tremendous surge in creativity and a new perspective on life. Even if the radical islamists win, they will be unable to stifle the spirit of creativity that will come after the war, though they will certainly have influence upon it.
I have noticed in my lifetime (I'm a Boomer) a change in the English language which may be comparable to the changes taking place in Chaucer's time. When I was young, everybody understood Elizabethan English quite well, even though we didn't normally speak it. This is because it was the language most commonly used in Church (except for Catholics, who used Latin, and Orthodox, who used their own languages) and in the most popular translation of the Bible, the King James Version. Shakespeare and Mallory weren't hard to understand because we already knew the language. But in the 60's there came a plethora of modern Bible translations and most churches modernized their worship services. As a result, young people now are mostly not familiar with Elizabethan English. At the same time, changes in technology and means of communication are producing changes in the English language.
So, there will certainly be new classics coming along.

Answer 3

No. The Canon, like the grand metanarrative, will soon be a thing of the past. "Literature" is ever more fragmentary.

There will still be good books, if that's what you're asking (Cormac McCarthy, Don Delillo, and others will see to that), but they won't be "great literature." The days in which any book could be considered unambiguosly great, part of the literary Canon, are behind us.

Answer 4

Yes, great literature can be written at any time, in any century. Good lit is good lit, no matter when it shows up.

Answer 5

Even Tolstoy and Dickens couldn't have written a book like Da Vinci Code. I read War and Peace and I got bored in the middle of the book. While reading Da Vinci Code I couldn't get my eyes off it for 4 whole days.

Answer 6

Yeah, I'm sure that's a question asked by every generation....and great works keep being written...

Answer 7

Of Course!

Answer 8

Of course. There are 94 years to do it.

Answer 9

Yes, but it will not be recognized as such until the author is dead. That is the way with all art.

Answer 10

I'm trying, I'm trying... Give me time dammit!


Otherwise.. I don't see any... if you do, let me know. Compared to the classics, I have seen nothing that even slightly compares.