Literati Hate Literature
Our own Brad Torgersen was discussing whether or not THE GREAT GATSBY should be assigned reading to schoolboys. He was chided by snobs telling him schoolboys should take their literature like they take their cod liver oil, because it is good for them.
Mr. Torgersen then read this letter into the record. Please note the date.
Forrest Jay Ackerman is famous among fans for this fandom, and, of course, Edgar Rice Burroughs is famous, and rightly so, among all men of Jasoom.
My comment: I remember smuggling science fiction books to read into English class that I would hold between the covers of some boring dreck in order to read something interesting and educational.
Nothing in Steinbeck or Hemmingway or Fitzgerald taught me anything about orbital mechanics, heroics, or human nature. It is my belief that World War One was an utter failure of the Enlightenment theory that so greatly traumatized Europe that their art and literature rebelled against the true, the beautiful, and the good. The only tale the postwar generation knew how to tell was bitter criticism of civilization.
The West has not yet recovered from this neurotic break with reality. Reality is romantic. God is the Great Artist.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
