About writing: after James Joyce, definitely YES.
If you ask about reading, of course we will (everybody who wants to) enjoy what has been written up to now.

I don't think so.

Different mediums suit different artists. There are some writers in history who would never have been satisfied with telling their story in a 2 hour film.

Ask JK Rowling whether she thinks the novel has had its day.

You don't have to wonder, it's not the case.

There is no decline in the number of novels being published (in Europe), and more encouragingly, there are more children's being produced than ever before.

an article on publishing was talking about how some of the most dangerous countries in the world were not too long ago large markets for fiction - Iraq, Lebanon, Algeria - its gotten me wondering if the time for fiction is over - we create our world based on our fictions and our fictions are damned negative (i.e., Endtime series)...sorta along the lines of the Situationists, eventually society gets so boring the only thing to do is to destroy it...
while there are more books than ever, most people read less than ever.

I got an sad letter from Dennis McMillan recently, he does small editions of people like Charles Willeford, Kent Harrington, Bob Truluck etc, and has been able to support his indie publishing by selling to libraries (I love his books but I can only drop $40 rarely) but he's finding his library sales are almost gone because there is no money for books, its all going to the occupation in Iraq.

I'd be interested where you got this evidence from. Certainly in the UK book sales are not in decline. And why would there be more books published if people weren't reading them?

I've read several times how there are more books published now than ever, usually in the context of the little guy trying to get some visibility for his book but its hard with so much coming out. Publishers pulp a lot of their product, anyway.

but I found this
A new survey of literary reading in America by the National Endowment for the Arts, “Reading At Risk “ has once again raised the alarm about the cultural decline of America. This one provides the news that we read much less literature, defined as fiction and poetry, than we did some 20 years ago. Indeed, the decline is substantial (10 percent), accelerating and especially worrisome because the malady of literature non-reading particularly afflicts the younger members of society, that critical 18-24 year old group (which shows a 28 percent decline in this survey).
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2005/08/23/lombardi

No. I've just finished to read one the best novels that I have read in ages, and it even managed to seal my belief that this costant questioning of things dying, being born, new etc is 90% total nonsense. Also, how could anyone ever question the existence of a good writer? They (of all people) seem to come up with the goods more often than others.

What novel was it?

David Wilson's This Age We're Living In.

Thanks. I haven't got a book to read at the moment, I'll go scouting sometime through the week.

Cool. Check it out, it's well written, insightful and funny in a very dry sort of way.

Sounds like my kind of thing. I don't usually go for novels for some reason, I read a lot of memoirs and biographies- but I'll go for this one.

It speaks volumes about two types of British men in the context of the state of things in this country at the moment. One young, and the other one not so young. One into anything that is 'modern', and the other one grumpy and hateful of anything that could be seen as superfluous. Somehow they manage to meet halfway through. I don't want to spoil your fun, though.

Haha, alright. Sounds sufferable so far.

are you talking about you & danny, or the book? :confused:


















:D

There is nothing I can even imagine that could ever replace novels for me. I'm sure many others see it the same way.

I would be very curious to see how that continues with kids who had the Internet, instant messaging, etc. from day one. If their generation doesn't appreciate a good novel, then I find that very sad.

There's an escape to reading a book thats different from reading on the computer. I won't ever stop reading books.

i used to read a lot but i don't have a library card in new york and books are expensive as hell...