Harry Potter? Eragon? Alex Rider?----Overrated?

Question

Does anyone think that books such as the ones listed above, and Series of Unfortunate Events, etc..are overrated? That they'll have a sort of a 'book popularity fling' and within 15 years or so, nobody will even recognize any of them?

Maybe Harry Potter and a few others will survive, but I'm doubtful for the others.

What I'm trying to ask here is, is our generation of writers not as good as past generations?

BTW, Alex Pettyfer, the guy who plays Alex Rider in the Movie, is a total Douche Bag.

I would know-----He came to our school.

To refer to Grundoon's answer, I know that some books pass on after some short period of popularity. But then, there are those who don't.

They're called 'Classics,' Grundoon
perhaps you've heard of stuff called "The Oddessy," "The Iliad," "War and Peace," "1984"
[sarcastic]

GODDAMMIT! I said Harry Potter will most likely survive! It's a wonderful series, but some others will probably just disappear.

Answer 1

I believe Harry Potter will survive, without a doubt. It's too good, not to mention all the publicity and everything.

As for the others . . . well, I've never heard of 'Alex Rider', but I did flip through 'Eragon' and 'Series of Unfortunate Events' and couldn't figure out what all the hulabaloo was about. And it's not that they're bad books, they're okay, I suppose. But I read so many other books that are utterly fantastic, and somehow never get any good attention and fall through the cracks! Like Diane Duane's "Who Wants To Be a Wizard" series- it's brilliant, but nobody hardly knows about it. It's all luck, promotion, and movie deals, and that sucks.

And yes, I'd agree with you- our generation of writers is slacking. I don't think that it's that they aren't as good- they have the talent. But somehow they've decided to dumb themselves down for their readers, instead of maintaining their integrity and knowing that their books can be good and challenging. In fact, I think that's kind of why "Harry Potter" has survived and done well- it isn't 'written down' to children, and that's why both kids and adults love it.

Answer 2

I haven't read all of them but I agree Eragon is overrated. However the kid was just 15 when he wrote it so for his age it was a nice first attempt. Harry Potter is likable enough that I suspect it will survive for quite some time.

Most classics are even more overrated than these books in my opinion. I'm not saying these are examples of great writing, but some of the popular books have good story lines and characters.

I'm always hearing comparisons when books write about themes like:
An intrusive goverment - 1984 did it better
A hard knock childhood - Well Oliver Twist did it first
A siege - But the Illiad did it on a much larger scale...

The trouble is that most of the "themes" that people deem would be indicative of a classic have already been played out so much that books are constantly compared to their predecessors. They were written in different times so we should really be comparing them with their contemporaries (literary wise) not with each other. There are some good writers out now, but just as in the past, they aren't going to be popular in their time. It takes a certain amount of time for people to grow appreciative of the writing.

Also based on the rate at which the language is changing I think it will become even more difficult for the classics to remain so.
At what point will they lose enough meaning to no longer be considered great writing?

Answer 3

Yeah, most of them will. Even HP may fade out, not all books that are forgotten are bad ones. As for Eragon, once everyone gets over being excited by the fact that this book was written by a teenager, they may realize that it reads like it was written by a teenager. And not a particularly brilliant one either. Unless of course, he eventually becomes a good writer, in which case it will just be viewed as a weak early work.

It's got little to do with generations of authors and everything to do with what gets marketed as great in it's own time. There are a great many once popular books and authors that have been deservedly forgotten. The classics were not always the most popular books of their time. There are works today which may well stand the test of time, but few of them get movie deals. Despite the marketing of this or that as an "instant classic", there is only one way to determine what is truly classic and that is to come back in twenty or fifty or a hundred years and see what is still around.

Answer 4

I agree that Harry Potter will survive, but as to the others i really dont think so. Now is this based on the quality of authors/writers?? No i dont think so. We have the classics from amazing authors but at the same time were so many other authors from that time period that are not remembered. Most books that are considered to be great written works teach us something or help to remove the common ignorence. so it not a question of authors it just the basis of the story. Also authors base there books on the time period they live in, its only natural to read books of your time, this is just backing up the whole our writers are just as good as past authors, they just go through and write about diffrent expirences.
HARRY POTTER ROCKS MY POLKADOTTED SOCKS!!! Btw, lol.

Answer 5

I personally think that the writers of the past wrote wayyyyyyyyyyy better than the writers these days. The modern day society seems to seek more entertainment out of books than meaning, and in the olden days people tried to put more meaning into their works. Seriously, no one these days can write books as worth yas Odyssey, Jane Eyre, Iliad and such.

I don't know any of the people you mentioned, except Harry Potter. Of course, I'll admit it's a great book, it gets you sucked into that world of magic. Very creative. But it has no meaning in that book--it's just a book based on pure entertainment (this is just my opinion, I know many ppl might think me wrong) yah, but its based on pure entertainment, and would lack A LOT when being compared to the classic series of Lord of the Rings, which have in its content much phsycology, depth, and moral teachings.

Answer 6

no they r not overated ! well the thing is i sometimes ask my self the same thing, is any one gonna remember these stories in the future, i think a few will survive. the stories of the past were written with less knowlage of the world around them with incredible conclusions which are very stupid now as we find out about our sourroundings as we advance. the writers of now and days are a bit more settled and informed soo that creates the need for excitement and fiction.the more we know the more we imagine is what i believe happens. Some of the best will survive and be remembered and looked up to as the austonding fictional stories we love. in other words the story that survives will mostlikely be idolized for the creative character in it.

Answer 7

I can only tell you are canadian.
Your emotion is despicable, dude, sure this will not hurt your feelings. Now getting to reason, Eragon is a fling, it never falters or plays around with sincerity, animadversity or betrayal beyond reasonable doubt. Alex Rider is a nobody, no one gets to his pants, he lacks decency and well, the outcome is pretty predictable and those two predicaments are pure beauty. Sure thing Harry Potter is a remarkable english boy, who does not like his shows for crying out loud, even Oprah jokes about it. I do not think serious literature, specially coming all the way to us mortals from England is overrated, I mean it has deliverance, candour and that effulgent and deliquescent effluvium called care for details, not the silly array of cinematronic all over your esteem.
Truly, some feature movies are meant to deploy and entertain, some were meant for the blockbuster hall of fame, now we all make our results, and fully, these fine movies are different, and besides from the Harry Potter saga, they go to the quarry afterwards. Time will tell otherwise, and this mage and his friends are lasting sure thing, pal. No offence.

Answer 8

Honestly, i dont think that they are overrated.
if you read other books there are some that wouldnt make it into any other generation. but these few that oyu mention might. especially harry potter and eragon.

people WILL recognize them because they have been made into movies. producers choice certain books to make into movies depending on how many books are sold. they dont randomly chose a book. they choice on that they think someone inthe future will read and wish there was a movie, and what do ya know! there is one!

i think that these books will make it in the future.

as for that last comment in the first explaination, our generation of writers are just as good as past generations, they just have different ideas, and inspirations then they did back in the times of Shakespear and Charles Dickens etc.

good question. i enjoyed answering it. ask me another.

Love
CaRa
happy holidays

Answer 9

Every generation has had books that were briefly popular, and quickly faded...anyone care to read Jonathan Livingston Seagull...Portnoys Complaint...Fear of Flying?

Bad books are quickly forgotten (Unless you take a course in English Lit)
Good books, and Harry Potter is a damn good book, endure

Answer 10

No, I think Harry Potter will be recognized for quite some time. That book has become a part of mainstream, pop culture. It won't just "die away"