In “Aesthetics of Junk Fiction,” Thomas Robert’s has a nice, non-censorious term for guilty pleasures. He calls it “reading for tired minds.” Sometimes your brain just needs mild stimulation rather than a serious workout.
Before Szalai, Chuck Klosterman made a similar criticism of the term guilty pleasure, claiming it made no sense to him; if you like something, you like it, why feel guilty?
Having a mixture of high- and lowbrow tastes hasn't always been seen as contradictory. Most postwar American literature made high art out of blending the two, creating characters as fluent in and inspired by comic-book lore and sitcom tropes as they were by Proust. I'd argue even that the division between the two isn't that low- or middlebrow art doesn't challenge us (I think it does, in how it reflects certain cultural assumptions). Highbrow art is just self-consciously in the style of work we've been culturally conditioned to consider great or challenging work, and what counts as high art changes along with the culture. Shakespeare was once pop-culture, after all.
There's reward in being able to overcome and analyze work that is intentionally difficult, but there's just as much of a reward in analyzing so-called less challenging artwork and finding its meaningful place and connection to higher level cultural concerns.
I like this - and the observation on Shakespeare is an excellent one - it is a certain maybe 20th century cultural development by the academic/educated class (probably one that merits some sociological-historical examination)/
I love anything formulaic. Once I have a hundred or two down, I can start spotting the patterns that go into making up a series, within episodes or books or through an arc. I can develop opinions on balancing elements and watch ideas develop within a writer’s work and move between writers. I never read behind the scenes though, it would ruin the game. (I do tv and audiobooks, good for household chores and exercise)
Okay, but the important question here is: Which romance novels? (I feel like I should have some intuition as to whether Jerusalem would prefer historical or modern romances, but I do not.)
Very curious as to what you read. After a lifetime of mostly avoiding genre fiction I have begin to consume a lot of it via audiobooks when I want to multitask (exercise, commute, chores etc.) and it has been interesting to see the variety of available content but ultimately it doesn’t make me want to read it in print.
Samuel Beckett relaxed with pulp novels and football on the telly. Brilliant novelist Jo Walton loves genre fiction including romances: https://reactormag.com/tag/jo-walton-reads/ . High-brow intellectual Wendy Lesser wrote a book about her love of detective fiction: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/51542618-scandinavian-noir . Walton is a great rereader. Among the undistinguished, I work with my mind during the day and relax by reading and rereading genre fiction much more than I watch TV.
This reminds me of what I have seen described as wanting vs. liking. You like a gourmet meal; you want more potato chips, even though you may not necessarily like them that much after eating so many.
Oh, c'mon. This is just an excuse to humble brag. You want us to know you read a lot and that your taste is refined and you're not a snob. Three brags in one. :)
In “Aesthetics of Junk Fiction,” Thomas Robert’s has a nice, non-censorious term for guilty pleasures. He calls it “reading for tired minds.” Sometimes your brain just needs mild stimulation rather than a serious workout.
Before Szalai, Chuck Klosterman made a similar criticism of the term guilty pleasure, claiming it made no sense to him; if you like something, you like it, why feel guilty?
Having a mixture of high- and lowbrow tastes hasn't always been seen as contradictory. Most postwar American literature made high art out of blending the two, creating characters as fluent in and inspired by comic-book lore and sitcom tropes as they were by Proust. I'd argue even that the division between the two isn't that low- or middlebrow art doesn't challenge us (I think it does, in how it reflects certain cultural assumptions). Highbrow art is just self-consciously in the style of work we've been culturally conditioned to consider great or challenging work, and what counts as high art changes along with the culture. Shakespeare was once pop-culture, after all.
There's reward in being able to overcome and analyze work that is intentionally difficult, but there's just as much of a reward in analyzing so-called less challenging artwork and finding its meaningful place and connection to higher level cultural concerns.
I like this - and the observation on Shakespeare is an excellent one - it is a certain maybe 20th century cultural development by the academic/educated class (probably one that merits some sociological-historical examination)/
Any chance we can get a list of those 27 romance novels? Asking for a friend...
I love anything formulaic. Once I have a hundred or two down, I can start spotting the patterns that go into making up a series, within episodes or books or through an arc. I can develop opinions on balancing elements and watch ideas develop within a writer’s work and move between writers. I never read behind the scenes though, it would ruin the game. (I do tv and audiobooks, good for household chores and exercise)
Okay, but the important question here is: Which romance novels? (I feel like I should have some intuition as to whether Jerusalem would prefer historical or modern romances, but I do not.)
Very curious as to what you read. After a lifetime of mostly avoiding genre fiction I have begin to consume a lot of it via audiobooks when I want to multitask (exercise, commute, chores etc.) and it has been interesting to see the variety of available content but ultimately it doesn’t make me want to read it in print.
Samuel Beckett relaxed with pulp novels and football on the telly. Brilliant novelist Jo Walton loves genre fiction including romances: https://reactormag.com/tag/jo-walton-reads/ . High-brow intellectual Wendy Lesser wrote a book about her love of detective fiction: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/51542618-scandinavian-noir . Walton is a great rereader. Among the undistinguished, I work with my mind during the day and relax by reading and rereading genre fiction much more than I watch TV.
This reminds me of what I have seen described as wanting vs. liking. You like a gourmet meal; you want more potato chips, even though you may not necessarily like them that much after eating so many.
Oh, c'mon. This is just an excuse to humble brag. You want us to know you read a lot and that your taste is refined and you're not a snob. Three brags in one. :)
I referto the formulaic murder mysteries I read between "better" literature as "palate cleansers."
Wait, you only read a few hours a day and yet are reading a little more than a book a day. How?!?
Even a 250 page easy read takes me something like 4-5 hours to complete.
Awesome