XPost: rec.arts.sf.written   
   From: acwheele@optonline.net   
      
   Louann Miller  wrote:   
      
   > "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)"  wrote in news:gc0cpc   
   > $vib$2@registered.motzarella.org:   
   >   
   > >> So what's your definition of "lit'ry"?   
   > >   
   > >      "I know it when I see it".   
   > >   
   > >      It's NOT stuff that's published mainly as entertainment, or that's   
   > > regarded as mainly entertainment. It's the "general fiction" which   
   > > usually gets reviewed seriously in the NYT book review.   
   >   
   > What about non-genre fiction that's available in grocery stores and/or   
   > WalMarts? If Oprah pushes a book, does that add or detract to its literary   
   > score?   
      
   Oprah's seal of approval generally depresses the perceived literary   
   worth of a book, by adding the stink of the unwashed hordes. See   
   Jonathan Franzen for the full flowering of this midnset.   
      
   This is because Oprah's recommendations are followed by middle-class,   
   middled-aged women who generally read for pleasure, and we all know that   
   such bourgeois people can't be trusted to know *real* literature.   
      
   --   
   Andrew Wheeler   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)