/lit/ - Literature

of course they're right. the thing is, people think they're standing on a treestump screaming these things, trying to stop people from reading Harry Potter. no, reporters ask them their opinion and they give the obvious answer: Harry Potter isn't great literature. what do you want well-read people to say? I think McDonald's hamburgers taste great, but I would expect a food critic to be more discerning than I am.

the problem is that people think opinions are all equal, when really how much you know about a field gives your opinion more or less weight. if you've read only twelve books in your entire life, you may think your favorite one is extraordinarily powerful, innovative, thoughtful, until you read two hundred more and realize your old favorite is actually, in the grand scheme of things, mediocre. Bloom and Byatt are experts of literature. you don't have to agree with them, but make sure you're not overestimating your own expertise when you disagree.