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The finalists for the 2015 Hugo Awards were announced on April 4, 2015. Who deserves the prize for Best Novel?
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(Score: 2) by n1 on Sunday June 07 2015, @04:44PM
If no one reads the new books, or takes the time to digest them like the classics, then in 50 years from now the books with 'staying power' will be the same one as they are now.
I generally take the opposite approach, if lots of people have engaged with a certain bit of media, be it books, movies or music, i'm more likely to go find something else. The ones with 'staying power' are not going anywhere, there are already millions of people who will endorse it and keep the art alive for the next generation(s).
Surely it's better to discover something new and spread the word about something that until now had little of recognition it deserves. I totally get your logic, and it can be frustrating to find something new and good, but it's worth the effort and immensely rewarding when you do get there.
There is however a very valid point you make about a signal:noise problem with all media now, there are books coming out every day and it is impossible to keep up. However, ignoring it and sticking to the classics does not benefit the art, it only places more value on the marketing machines to keep certain books or intellectual properties in the public consciousness.
On a related tangent: I'm not a fan of The Beatles music, however I can appreciate the value of their music from listening to people who are fans of their work and were inspired by them. That is not to say I don't enjoy their music either, I do, but i'd rather continue with the evolution and hear people who were inspired by them, than look back on it as a golden age of music in which nothing that came after can compare.
The classics in literature and other media laid a foundation and other people have built on, the last thing we should be doing it dismissing it. It's no longer served up for us in a way that tells us we will like it before we've even read it, thats a good thing. Art is subjective and shouldn't be shackled by tradition and group-think.