I became aware of an interesting thing on the web today, although it’s been up for about a year and a half. It came across my Twitter feed, and now I can’t find who sent it. Apologies for lack of acknowledgement. Anyway, this link is to a site showing correspondence between Edgar Rice Burroughs and a 14 year of fan named Forrest J. Ackerman. (Yes, that Forrest J. Ackerman.) I think Burroughs hits the nail on the head in his reply to Ackerman’s letter. Especially when he says
No fiction is worth reading except for entertainment. If it entertains and is clean, it is good literature, of its kind. If it forms the habit of reading, in people who might not read otherwise, it is the best literature
There’s a reason Burroughs is still read after 100 years and so many bestsellers are forgotten. Too many people, in academia or with agendas to promote, seem to have forgotten that.
Well said, sir!
Absolutely agreed.
tell the story, keep it moving. Good lessons for us all.
Thanks for the comments, guys. Once again, readers of this blog prove that great minds think alike.