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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 511036" data-attributes="member: 177">When considering Rowling or Salvatore as literature, there's something that must be considered - every single written work, without exception, has a "target audience".  Even if the author doesn't consider it consciously, every work is written with a reader in mind, though it may be in the background of the mind.  Analysis, then, must take that context into account.  There is no such thing as "great literature", in an absolute sense.  There is "literature that is great at doing what it tries to do".  Perhaps, "Great because it manages to do more than it really tries to do."  A large number of modern fantasy readers cannot stand Tolkien.  The people who find it great to read today are not in the majority.  By today's standards he's slow, wordy, dry and impersonal.  It's even worse for older works.  Ever read the original Gulliver's Travels?  Or anything by HG Wells?  By modern standards, these things are sawdusty works, at best.  But since they were great in their own time, they are still remembered and used.Rowling isn't writing for a highbrow, literary crowd.  She's writing for kids roughly the same age as her main characters.  For that purpose, her work is nothing less than fantastic.  The fact that she also catches the attention and praise of adults says something about her talents.  How many other books written for 10 year olds are even barely tolerable for adults, much less enjoyed by millions?   Similarly, Salvatore is pretty good.  He reaches his audience, and they keep coming back for more.  The opinions of critics and the literary-educated elite are nice, but in the end, how good can you really be if nobody reads you?</blockquote>

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