![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reenkait's not a surprise or anything, but i often ask myself why people in general seem to have such horribly poor taste in fiction. on the one hand, a number of the really popular authors are really good-- a number aren't. but the really good ones-- all those people who read them have taste, don't they?
what if they don't?
what if the things they find good about that piece of work aren't even -related- to the things -i- would enjoy about it? that's all i can come up with.
if the rec is by a writer i think is brilliant, or by someone whose taste i know and whose intelligence i respect, i am almost never disappointed. i would've thought the intelligence bit would be enough, but it isn't. naturally, quirks in personal preferences have a lot to do with it, but i just can't help feeling bewildered at the stuff people think worthy of recommending.
but, a number of the stories -i- found utterly enjoyable, i wouldn't rec unless i knew the person i'm reccing to had similar tastes as me. for example-- among people i respect and whose opinions i know, there's a split opinion on rhysenn's `irresistible poison'-- and all the popular works, but sticking with that....
for some people it's too sugary, too much romance or whatever. now, it's perfectly valid to think that. i mean, i know -i- am probably blinded by my complete love for romance, often of the starcrossed variety. it started when i was little and never went away. it's a personal quirk. i'm not about to defend the great intellectual worth of traditional romantic tropes, though i could try and probably get -somewhere-.
still, it's done very well, i feel, and that much, i feel confident in. it's a very good, symbolically rich, interwoven, well-paced traditional romance.
or say, take maya's `underwater light'. on the one hand, i think it's brilliant and i think that's objective. but again, -what's- brilliant about it. to me, the dialogue, the humor, the characterization, is enough to make me adore it. but what if someone was looking for something completely different? what if they were looking for some sort of in-depth commentary on the human condition, what if they were looking for a serious dealing with all the unsavory aspects of malfoy-the-git? what if they were annoyed by snarky!adorable!malfoy and thought he was ridiculous?
i don't know what i'm saying, really.
i'm annoyed at continuously coming across people who praise stories i consider lame at best. i am also aware of what could be perceived as my hypocricy, because i would praise things without reservation that some people whose opinion i respect would see as lame. still, stories like `mind games'-- and i've only read barely a page-- make me cringe and say there's no way this is good or rec-worthy.
i mean, it doesn't suck or anything. it has interesting stylistic choices and it flows ok. but. maybe there are some characterizations i just refuse to accept (like some people might refuse snarky!charmer!draco), and superpowered-veela!draco is most definitely one of them. i read about his wings and i just want to run far, far away. i mean, hey, artistic license. they're allowed to give him wings. aren't they?
maybe i've been trained by the snarkier members of the fandom to look upon superpowered beautiful people with suspicion (even though they're usually mary sues). this draco smells like a mary sue from a mile away. and hey, for all i know, a number of the draco's i -liked- have been mary sues too. so. *sigh*
this is just a rant. i don't think i've said anything worthy. but. i -am- continuously surprised (and even surprised at my ability to be surprised) by the junk people lick up as ice-cream. i mean, i think i can tell the difference between disagreements borne of "divergent tastes" and just-- lack of taste. and it try to say-- but it doesn't mean you're -stupid- if you can't tell what's good or bad objectively and go around reccing things that are just plain bad. well. um. gah. i can't hold on to that nicety. yes. as well as being unable to not consider their understanding of certain characters (um. draco) suspect. *sigh*
~~
it's not worthy of my time to snark at plebe!fics, is it ><;;
EDIT: um. i wound up liking the story. it's too insane not to enjoy on some sort of demented level. taking it seriously, it sucks ass. but it's cute seeing harry having his repressed sexuality described as a physical object. muwahahaha.
what if they don't?
what if the things they find good about that piece of work aren't even -related- to the things -i- would enjoy about it? that's all i can come up with.
if the rec is by a writer i think is brilliant, or by someone whose taste i know and whose intelligence i respect, i am almost never disappointed. i would've thought the intelligence bit would be enough, but it isn't. naturally, quirks in personal preferences have a lot to do with it, but i just can't help feeling bewildered at the stuff people think worthy of recommending.
but, a number of the stories -i- found utterly enjoyable, i wouldn't rec unless i knew the person i'm reccing to had similar tastes as me. for example-- among people i respect and whose opinions i know, there's a split opinion on rhysenn's `irresistible poison'-- and all the popular works, but sticking with that....
for some people it's too sugary, too much romance or whatever. now, it's perfectly valid to think that. i mean, i know -i- am probably blinded by my complete love for romance, often of the starcrossed variety. it started when i was little and never went away. it's a personal quirk. i'm not about to defend the great intellectual worth of traditional romantic tropes, though i could try and probably get -somewhere-.
still, it's done very well, i feel, and that much, i feel confident in. it's a very good, symbolically rich, interwoven, well-paced traditional romance.
or say, take maya's `underwater light'. on the one hand, i think it's brilliant and i think that's objective. but again, -what's- brilliant about it. to me, the dialogue, the humor, the characterization, is enough to make me adore it. but what if someone was looking for something completely different? what if they were looking for some sort of in-depth commentary on the human condition, what if they were looking for a serious dealing with all the unsavory aspects of malfoy-the-git? what if they were annoyed by snarky!adorable!malfoy and thought he was ridiculous?
i don't know what i'm saying, really.
i'm annoyed at continuously coming across people who praise stories i consider lame at best. i am also aware of what could be perceived as my hypocricy, because i would praise things without reservation that some people whose opinion i respect would see as lame. still, stories like `mind games'-- and i've only read barely a page-- make me cringe and say there's no way this is good or rec-worthy.
i mean, it doesn't suck or anything. it has interesting stylistic choices and it flows ok. but. maybe there are some characterizations i just refuse to accept (like some people might refuse snarky!charmer!draco), and superpowered-veela!draco is most definitely one of them. i read about his wings and i just want to run far, far away. i mean, hey, artistic license. they're allowed to give him wings. aren't they?
maybe i've been trained by the snarkier members of the fandom to look upon superpowered beautiful people with suspicion (even though they're usually mary sues). this draco smells like a mary sue from a mile away. and hey, for all i know, a number of the draco's i -liked- have been mary sues too. so. *sigh*
this is just a rant. i don't think i've said anything worthy. but. i -am- continuously surprised (and even surprised at my ability to be surprised) by the junk people lick up as ice-cream. i mean, i think i can tell the difference between disagreements borne of "divergent tastes" and just-- lack of taste. and it try to say-- but it doesn't mean you're -stupid- if you can't tell what's good or bad objectively and go around reccing things that are just plain bad. well. um. gah. i can't hold on to that nicety. yes. as well as being unable to not consider their understanding of certain characters (um. draco) suspect. *sigh*
~~
it's not worthy of my time to snark at plebe!fics, is it ><;;
EDIT: um. i wound up liking the story. it's too insane not to enjoy on some sort of demented level. taking it seriously, it sucks ass. but it's cute seeing harry having his repressed sexuality described as a physical object. muwahahaha.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2002-11-09 10:21 am (UTC)What is Junk to one man is another man's Treasure.
Perspective. Baby. That's what can make writing interesting. What's good and what's bad all relies on who's presenting the account.
And the vanity of human nature is to think that one's own taste is the Right and Good taste. When easily, clearly, ask someone else and we are the ones with bad taste.
The only way to find recs that you will enjoy is to find people who you know have similar tastes to yours.
no subject
Date: 2002-11-09 10:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-11-09 10:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-11-09 10:47 am (UTC)i think i've grown up on the idea of Good Literature too much for the utterly subjectivist view to overtake me.
i think i was saying that -even though- taste is of course relative, there is in fact such a thing as good writing and not-so-good writing.
i am fully able to appreciate the good writing of even things i don't personally enjoy. i can prove it-- i think there's been stuff i haven't enjoyed the plot, characters or style of, but i can tell you honestly that i think it's really good.
shakespeare is really good.
i don't care -who- you are, or what your tastes are, if you don't think he's good you are a plebe ^^;
art in general is a weird combination of subjective and universal-- not to say "objective" but just-- it speaks to something we all have in common, making it a work of Great Art and thus good in general.
have you seen some old cathedrals? some works of art by the old masters? you walk in the cathedral of st. peter in rome, for example, and no matter who you are, you are overwhelmed by beauty, if you have an aesthetic bone in your body, i'm sure of it.
while literature is more muddled-- you have to -think- to appreciate it-- i still think language and philosophical weight and brilliant humor and all things we can talk about in vaguely generally-applicable terms.
damn, i'm such an english major ^^;;