Friday, September 26, 2008

The Humorless

The previous post contains a link to a funny little list of 10 revered books that one should avoid. Clearly this is either tongue-in-check or the compilation of someone who cares not a whit for these sorts of “classics” but does enjoy riling up the easily riled, and sadly humorless, literary types who have come out en masse to voice (sort of) their ire. I mean, you can’t bash Lord of the Rings without someone getting upset. And Joyce? Well, that one was easy. Proust gets fewer defenders as no one wants to admit that haven’t read at least a little of the French cookie-eater. In a way the point I believe the author wishes to make is proven in comments section: these are SERIOUS books, with SERIOUS demands placed upon the reader, and not to be taken lightly. Making light of them belittles the accomplishment of those who have either joyously or joylessly slogged through every page. That’s bound to piss some folks the hell off, but then again they were already in line to be all offended and pissed about something.