What makes great literature great?
In this multi-part essay John C. Wright addresses the meaty question that’s been making the rounds of certain online discussion forums of whether genre books (especially speculative fiction) can be great books. Here are some excerpts that, I think, lay out very well the foundational principles for the discussion: The point is that it is not all about you. It is not all about your tastes. Just because you like something or don’t like something, just because you agree or disagree, has no bearing on whether a work is deep or shallow. Whether something is great or shallow is an objective judgment, determined by your reason, not a personal judgment determined by your tastes. Since the idea of an objective judgment is one the Brahmins of our age have decreed anathema, I can only invite the heterodox to continue past this point. A work is likeable to you, if you like it. A work is agreeable to you, if you agree with it, the world its portrays fits and adorns the world as you see it. But a wor
