Future Classics

[mae]

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/2012/11/future-classics-readers-of-1936-predict-which-authors-will-endure/

In 1936, a quarterly magazine for book collectors called The Colophon polled its readers to pick the ten authors whose works would be considered classics in the year 2000. Sinclair Lewis, author of the 1935 hit It Can’t Happen Here, was a natural choice for the top spot. Just five years earlier Sinclair had been the first American to win the Nobel Prize for literature. But some of the authors are likely forgotten names to even the most ardent reader here in the year 2012:

Sinclair Lewis
Willa Cather
Eugene O’Neill
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Robert Frost
Theodore Dreiser
James Truslow Adams
George Santayana
Stephen Vincent Benet
James Branch Cabell

The editors at the magazine supplemented the published list with their own ideas of who might still be read in the year 2000. Their list included authors like Thomas Wolfe, H.L. Mencken, Ernest Hemingway and Hervey Allen.

How do you think these readers of the 1930s did with their predictions? Who would you put on a list of authors read today who will still be read into the year 2080 and beyond? What do you think the future holds for the book, a form of technology that’s getting harder and harder to define as it becomes less popular as a physical object and more often a collection of words that reside in our devices?


Shall we give this a go here? What are your top ten contemporary authors that will be read at the end of the century and considered classics?

[Jean]

Crichton!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pathoftheturtle]

Shall we give this a go here? What are your top ten contemporary authors that will be read at the end of the century and considered classics?

... What do you think the future holds for the book, a form of technology that’s getting harder and harder to define as it becomes less popular as a physical object and more often a collection of words that reside in our devices?
Can we include playwrights?

[mae]

Why not? The original list does.

[pathoftheturtle]

Screenwriters?

(You knew that would be the next question, right?)

[mae]

Not exactly literature, though.

[pathoftheturtle]

Exactly my point, though. That's why I isolated the blog's literary form "what do you think the future holds?" question in my re-quote. Sorry: sometimes I'm TOO subtle, I guess.
It's an interesting topic, presuming that this civilization endures. I'll try to get back to you soon.

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

I honestly believe that at least a couple of SK's works will go down as Classics.

[jhanic]

I honestly believe that at least a couple of SK's works will go down as Classics.

Which ones?

John

[Jean]

I honestly believe that at least a couple of SK's works will go down as Classics.how do you mean, a couple?
I didn't say "King!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" in my first post here only because I thought it went without saying. He is already a classic; it will only take the critics some time to recognize him as such.

[Merlin1958]

I honestly believe that at least a couple of SK's works will go down as Classics.

Which ones?

John

I'd say "The Shining" is a shoe-in for one. Probably "The Stand" as well. "'Salem's Lot" also stands out. Not sure about TDT though. It seems to be an acquired taste for King fans. However, history may change that...

[pathoftheturtle]

seems to be an acquired tasteAren't all the classics?

[Merlin1958]

seems to be an acquired tasteAren't all the classics?

Surprisingly, no. I remember in HS a teacher asked me why I didn't read "The Classics" (I was a vociferous reader, still am to a degree) and I responded that I thought they were stodgy and old stories. He said "Well, there's a reason they call them "Classics", you know". So I read "Catcher in the Rye". From there on in I was hooked and began reading everything I could on the HS "Classics" list and moved onto Poe and Shakespeare and enjoyed most of them immensely!!! "Moby Dick" was a bit tough, but I got through it. So, maybe not, Path. Matter of opinion I suppose, but I bet most would be surprised. "Dracula" was GREAT and look how old that is!!! LOTR, The Invisible Man (Ellison? not the supernatural story), The Red Badge of Courage etc., etc.

However, I suppose you make a somewhat salient point. It's all in the book's holder whilst reading it!!!

[pathoftheturtle]

Well, I don't know... I think the question is more in how "an acquired taste" is defined than anything. It is not so much a matter, it seems to me, of whether you enjoyed Shakespeare "immensely" as of whether you enjoyed them immediately. But maybe that phrase "acquired taste" seems to YOU different in meaning. I know that I was impressed right away when first reading The Gunslinger, myself.

And I think that, however you define "acquiring" a taste, that certainly does change over time. I wonder how many literary scholars of his day assumed that Charles Dickens would be a classic writer to us. Quite a relevant question when considering SK's possible future, I would guess.

[Merlin1958]

Well, I don't know... I think the question is more in how "an acquired taste" is defined than anything. It is not so much a matter, it seems to me, of whether you enjoyed Shakespeare "immensely" as of whether you enjoyed them immediately. But maybe that phrase "acquired taste" seems to YOU different in meaning. I know that I was impressed right away first reading The Gunslinger, myself.

No, you misunderstand (I think?) I enjoyed all those authors and more, immediately. I guess I was speaking more for the general public, and the "Academic/Literary" community, ya know what I mean? I loved TDT series, always will. Just not sure how "history" and the "public" at large will feel. Just an opinion is all. Sorry for the confusion.



Edit: Are you studying "Law"? LOL Sometimes, it's a real chore to discuss things with you. Don't get me wrong, a good discussion evidences many points of view and opinions, but everything does not have to be a "debate". Especially amongst "like minded folk", yes?

I don't mean this as an indictment. Just a thought is all. Happy Holidays to you and yours!!!

[pathoftheturtle]

Sorry for the confusion.No, not at all. It's just discussion; I think this is interesting. But here is another issue. Is it really the general public who determine what are considered classics, anyway? I mean, usually, what is popular is the new popular form. Classics are a different category which don't follow the trends of present works that you seem to be projecting forward. Of course, King's work will not always be new... but, sure, it could be canonized by professors eventually, if that kind of thing is still done in the future. I'm just not completely sure that it will be. Society is in for some big changes, I bet.

[Merlin1958]

Well, you're correct. The term "Classics" is constantly evolving to include new authors. I guess, I was reverting to a snapshot of "classics" when I became fully aware of them and I suppose that fits for everyone. King will definitely have his share in that category. So may a few others in the end, but it is constantly evolving and, of course, definitely subject to the times of that era, no? Always has been, as it always shall be!!!!

[pathoftheturtle]

JFK said once that "the only thing that never changes is that everything always does." I guess if that's what you mean "always shall be" then I've got to agree. But it's really complicated, with predicted advances in information technology and everything. And it is already hard to say what values we might settle on, in the midst of today's culture wars. So, yeah; one person's guess on how respectable TDT specifically will look later on is probably as good as any other's at this point.

[Mattrick]

Not sure if this just means young authors writing today, or people who are still alive and writing today. If any writers from this day and age who have made their impact in the literary world it would be:

Stephen King
Cormac McCarthy
Andre Dubus III
Michael Chricton
J.K. Rowling
Chuck Phalinuk
Denis Lehane
Kurt Vonnegut
Alex Garland (if his screenplays are also included)

If screenwriters were allowed in this list, Charlie Kauffman would be a shoe in. For playwrites (don't know many) but David Mamet would definitely also be a shoe in.

I have not read all of these authors, but word of mouth and impact on literary world is evident for some. There are a lot of writers going today I've probably never heard of.


As for King I don't think he'll ever be regarded as a literary legend in terms of his actual ability to write in a classical sense, but the strength of the stories he tells will be recognized. One of my favourite ways to surprise people is to tell people Stephen King wrote The Shawshank Redemption...most people don't know that and makes them think maybe he isn't call ghouls and goblins. If I had to pick some novels/stories by him that will show his talents to people who discredit him, both with horror and not with horror would be:

Pet Semetary
Bag of Bones
Low Men In Yellow Coats/Hearts In Atlantis
Rita Heyworth and The Shawshank Redemption
The Body
Misery
Carrie

[mattgreenbean]

Ray Bradbury
Alan Moore

[Garrell]

Frank Miller...

[pathoftheturtle]

Uh, ok... maybe. I guess you never know.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_BH96eNPoY