yoda4554 wrote:no one actually reads Horace Walpole or Anne Radcliffe-- including people interested in 18th-century literature. That has to fail a test of some kind.
If people who are interested in serious literature, in general, are more likely to read Vollman or William Gass or Jeffrey Eugenides than Walpole, then whether or not we think anyone will care in the year 2100, I think they're more worthy of being written about.
yoda4554 wrote:I don't see why topics of quizbowl questions have to "stand the test of time." Questions are not written for posterity. They are written for tournaments that occur once, usually within a couple months of writing. If something makes a large impact immediately, does it matter whether or not anyone cares ten years later, when people clearly care now?
Furthermore, to reiterate Borglum's point, people who are interested in serious literature are very likely to read McEwan. In fact, they're generally likely to want to read recent works because they'll presumably be more relevant to contemporary times and the current state of the language. Academia necessarily will be lagging a bit behind that and will want to have a broader historical context instead of being on the edge of what's being written at the moment, and that's fine. But I have it on good authority that just about no one actually reads Horace Walpole or Anne Radcliffe-- including people interested in 18th-century literature. That has to fail a test of some kind.
If people who are interested in serious literature, in general, are more likely to read Vollman or William Gass or Jeffrey Eugenides than Walpole, then whether or not we think anyone will care in the year 2100, I think they're more worthy of being written about.
ekwartler wrote:Oh, and, shut up about Ian McEwan, noted author whose works you haven't read. I've read three books by Ian McEwan, he's awesome. I highly recommend him to all people. But at this point the consensus is clearly that he still can't be conclusively said to be more than a blip on the radar.
NotBhan wrote:Uh ... didn't the Yoda dude and Borglum both just say positive things about him? I must confess that I've only read about 15 pages of Amsterdam, so I don't know McEwan well. But I certainly have no objection to his ... canonicity? Canonicality? And the book seemed much better than its film adaption, Amsterdamned.
--RD
ValenciaQBowl wrote:Amazon sales rankings as canon criteria? Yow!
Walpole's and Radcliffe's works are likely being bought by sad kids forced to get them for a course on the Gothic novel or something at Bard College. Then they just read the Sparknotes summary, anyway (of course, doing so will still get you the toss-up on them, right?). Presumably if you're buying Vollmann you're reading him, but propriety forces me to admit that I've had Europe Central for six months or so in an advanced, non-proofed copy and haven't read it. Worse, I've got the abridged Rising Up and Rising Down (which is still like 800 pages) and have only read the first quarter, maybe.
To get back on track, Gass should definitely be in the canon, and Coover and Flann O'Brien have both come up in packets I've heard. The only dilution would be letting in those unknown Jewish authors you're pimping, BellowLover.
shorterqbdoppelganger wrote:You should have referred to me as You-Know-Who. Like Voldemort, my attention is drawn when my name is mentioned.
[quote = "passive agressive insultory like Thorsley"]
Shorter Dan Passner: It's not fair that you use the easily verifiable fact that I am a racist, misogynist asshole against me.
yoda4554 wrote:But if there are going to be questions for the people who know the works of Middleton and Dekker backwards, there should be some for people reading contemporary writers too, because the latter group is at least as large and as interested in literature. I'm talking about a tossup or bonus per packet, at most.
Ray wrote:Hmm...I've never heard of Ian McEwan, but I think I speak for the entire collegiate quiz bowl community when I say that anything that bums Chris Borglum out is something that bums me out, too. So please, more Amsterdam tossups.
Nathan wrote:ok, I just found an example of what was clearly a student misapprehending the relative significance of (pretty obscure) Victorian novel -- and not due to the author being Chicano or gay. but, I would wager that the UF writer responsible for this tossup was misled by some professor's emphasis in a course....
someone for the Moon Pie 2004 (a novice tourney!) wrote a tossup on "Lady Audley's Secret" by Mary Elizabeth Braddon.
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