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FactsAreUseless
Feb 16, 2011

Stravinsky posted:

The idea of canon does not necessarilly mean a written list or w/e by some jackoff. Society has decided for one reason or another that certain works are more important than others. The way literature is taught is schools is based on the idea of there being a canon, that knowing Shakespeare is more important than one of his contemporaries.
Wait, what's that, all of literature is an ongoing conversation on great works and their effects upon the reader, just like everything in any living culture ever?

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CestMoi
Sep 16, 2011

FactsAreUseless posted:

Wait, what's that, all of literature is an ongoing conversation on great works and their effects upon the reader, just like everything in any living culture ever?

This , but for video games.

FactsAreUseless
Feb 16, 2011

CestMoi posted:

This , but for video games.
To Kill A Parakoopa

FactsAreUseless
Feb 16, 2011

Seriously though can we talk about Bioshock: Infinite in this thread?

Stravinsky
May 31, 2011

It is on the level of grievance as well as the celebration and derision of virtual worlds that GTA V and "Bleeding Edge" breathe the same air. And bounce on a puff of the zeitgeist.

FactsAreUseless
Feb 16, 2011

Was not expecting Al Jazeera.

mallamp
Nov 25, 2009

Western canon of 22nd Century:

-Tolkien will be the gold standard to be studied by professors who are out of touch with hip new things
-Cormac McCarthy will be the new Joyce
-Collected works of Stephen King, but it will be questionable if they really were written by him
-Twilight & 50 Shades of Gray for feminists

Above all HARRY POTTER THE POST MODERN MASTERPIECE that brought us the joyful era of manchildren reading books about actual children.
Universities will add that John Green is better because his books don't have dragons and poo poo.

Hieronymous Alloy
Jan 30, 2009


Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!




Morbid Hound

CestMoi posted:

That's what I've been saying this whole time!!!!

I would say "great minds think alike" but I have read Derrida (to the extent anyone can read Derrida!) and know that we are all eternally talking past each other and this apparent agreement is only illusion


FactsAreUseless posted:

Seriously though can we talk about Bioshock: Infinite in this thread?


Text-based games only (Deus Ex and Planescape: Torment count)

Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 16:14 on Feb 18, 2015

Effectronica
May 31, 2011
Fallen Rib

CestMoi
Sep 16, 2011


I'm not going to read this, but thank you.

CestMoi
Sep 16, 2011

FactsAreUseless posted:

Seriously though can we talk about Bioshock: Infinite in this thread?

Duhhh can I talk about one of the foremost works of wetsern creative philosophy in this thread????

Burning Rain
Jul 17, 2006

What's happening?!?!
Are there any contemporary works that might be seen as a part of western canon in 100 or 200 years?

If they would need to influence the whole 'western culture' enough so that writers working in a similar style would implicitly be in a conversation with them, then I'm not sure if it's possible with the current fragmentation of the literary world. Setting aside Harry Potter or Stephen, which will probably be a part of their respective genre canon, what has shook the literary world in the last 20 years? Maybe Knausgaard's 'Min Kamp'? I guess anybody writing hyper-detailed biographical work would immediately be compared to him.

Apart from him, Eco's books might do the same to literary historical adventure novels, and Houellebecq for nihilistic writing - although he'd have competition from Bukowski, I guess. I'm not even sure if any other more or less contemporary English-speaking authors has had a comparable influence abroad outside of genre writing. Maybe Pynchon or Roth, but I don't feel their influence in Europe much. Probably Vonnegut, but then we're stretching the definition of 'contemporary'.

So I guess:

FactsAreUseless posted:

I don't know why we even need this thread when the Pratchett thread is right there.

inktvis
Dec 11, 2005

What is ridiculous about human beings, Doctor, is actually their total incapacity to be ridiculous.

Burning Rain posted:

Are there any contemporary works that might be seen as a part of western canon in 100 or 200 years?

Even with the most likely candidates, it's impossible to say. At the start of the 20th century, someone like Pierre Loti's reputation would have seemed to be pretty much set in stone - an influence on Proust and Conrad, massive commercial success, giant house, portrait painted by Rousseau, even beating out Zola to a seat on the Académie. But who gives a poo poo about Loti now?

Earwicker
Jan 6, 2003

inktvis posted:

Even with the most likely candidates,

It's not completely possible but some possibilities are more likely than others. For example there is a pretty good chance that by 2250 or 2300, no one will be debating the western canon as all humans will be deceased.

Bendigeidfran
Dec 17, 2013

Wait a minute...

Earwicker posted:

It's not completely possible but some possibilities are more likely than others. For example there is a pretty good chance that by 2250 or 2300, no one will be debating the western canon as all humans will be deceased.

Don't worry bro, when the lizards gain sapience in the CO2-heavy atmosphere they'll discover the works of the prophet Niall Ferguson at some point. The glories of Western Culture will be discussed for millions of years! There'll be diamond temples to Aristo-Shakespe-Sus (mammalian all-father of thought), heretics who follow the apocryphal book of Marx will be thrown in the tar pits, it'll be good times.

youre wife
Dec 25, 2014

by Ralp
It's a pretty sexist genre if you ask me

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Burning Rain
Jul 17, 2006

What's happening?!?!

inktvis posted:

Even with the most likely candidates, it's impossible to say. At the start of the 20th century, someone like Pierre Loti's reputation would have seemed to be pretty much set in stone - an influence on Proust and Conrad, massive commercial success, giant house, portrait painted by Rousseau, even beating out Zola to a seat on the Académie. But who gives a poo poo about Loti now?

Sure, we can say that it's basically impossible to talk about people being a part of the canon or 'influential classics' category until at least a hundred years have passed since their death - but where is the fun be in that? Maybe 'canon' isn't the best word to describe the conversations writers have with each other, the ebb and flow of their influence. That did include Loti at one time (and place) but excludes him from the current conversation/canon. Even the influence of certainly canonical authors like Chaucer, say, are negligible in Spain, for instance. On the other hand, Javier Marias or Juan Goytisolo are like inescapable shadows for young writers in Spain but are hardly read in English-speaking countries at all.

So, since listing a 'canon' is pointless anyway, why not speculate and argue?

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