Can writers today produce quality works with long-lasting impact?
This question has been lingering in my thought processes for months, and has become more vivid during the creation of my blogging book. Can writers today create works that qualify to sit on the bookshelves with William Shakespeare, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Beecher Stowe? Will the messages have the same long-lasting impact as those before us?
I don’t know.
If there are artists who have written such works, where are they? I’ll admit, I don’t hang out on New York Times Best Sellers List so I don’t know what’s going on there. But I do know that if a work is exceptional according to the masses (notice I didn’t say experts), they would get a lot of attention. I also know that there are millions of talented individuals that are unknown, and we’ll only find out about them by accident.
Because of the lack of quality in writing and editing and because of the lack of focus on issues that really matter, I cannot say that such works can be produced and have the same impact today, let alone qualify to sit on the shelves with literary greats.
What do you think? Can writers today produce quality works with long-lasting impact?
Marcie,
That’s a good question to ponder. The thing is, books and literary work in general are up against so much more competition for attention. Even from scholars and critics. Therefore, it’s hard for high-quality work to any sort of chance in today’s marketplace. What’s important is the quality work. True quality will always prevail.
Hey Scott, that’s so true. I also think older literary works had social themes that are still relevant today. Have you read any books that were written in this millennium that would still be relevant 50 to 100 years from now?