XPost: rec.arts.sf.written   
   From: dtravel@sonic.net   
      
   Mike Schilling wrote:   
   > Andrew Wheeler wrote:   
   >> Mike Schilling  wrote:   
   >>   
   >>> Andrew Wheeler wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>>   
   >>>> 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.   
   >>>   
   >>> At least we've found one author who writes for art and cares   
   >>> nothing   
   >>> for money.  What a nitwit!   
   >>   
   >> You mean Franzen? No, he wanted money -- he wrote professionally. He   
   >> just wanted to be able to specify his audience, which doesn't   
   >> work --   
   >> the audience chooses the writer, not vice versa.   
   >   
   > Are you saying that he was unaware of the size of the audience Oprah   
   > was about to bring him, before he went and insluted all of them?   
      
   From what I can tell on five minutes of research, Franzen's concern was more   
   wanting to maintain "independence" versus looking like he was "owned" by a   
   corporation.  (Or that "his" story was owned by Oprah's corporation.)   
   *shrug*   
      
   --   
   "What Kind of perv rememembers the scenes where she's clothed???" -   
   Anim8rFSK, 8/23/08   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)