That's why I had the guard in about civilization-scarring calamities.
Actually trying to predict what will be read in 2100 is a mug's game. Using the exercise as a way of putting in perspective claims which exalt the status of works published in the claimant's lifetime is more easy to ground.
We're already in the middle of larger changes in general taste between, say, when I was born and now compared to the same length of time leading up to 1920. In 1920 novels from the 1820s (notably Scott) were genuinely popular. I'm not sure Babbitt and Mrs. Dalloway are anywhere near as popular now.
A few days ago in some thread or another somebody referred casually to Pilgrim's Progress as being essentially unread and unreadable - but it was the most popular book other than the Bible in English-speaking countries for over 200 years and I happily read it in my parents' inherited copy at about 10 years old.
Major civilizational change could speed that up - or maybe it will lead to three generations of readers for whom novels about daily life in the late 20th Century is sought-after nostalgia.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2020-08-11 02:22 am (UTC)Actually trying to predict what will be read in 2100 is a mug's game. Using the exercise as a way of putting in perspective claims which exalt the status of works published in the claimant's lifetime is more easy to ground.
We're already in the middle of larger changes in general taste between, say, when I was born and now compared to the same length of time leading up to 1920. In 1920 novels from the 1820s (notably Scott) were genuinely popular. I'm not sure Babbitt and Mrs. Dalloway are anywhere near as popular now.
A few days ago in some thread or another somebody referred casually to Pilgrim's Progress as being essentially unread and unreadable - but it was the most popular book other than the Bible in English-speaking countries for over 200 years and I happily read it in my parents' inherited copy at about 10 years old.
Major civilizational change could speed that up - or maybe it will lead to three generations of readers for whom novels about daily life in the late 20th Century is sought-after nostalgia.