Re: "The Elusive E-book"

> Sounds very much like the attitude that stifled advancement and  
> condemned untold numbers to poverty during the Middle Ages. If you  
> decide that everything worthwhile has already been written or  
> discovered, then you will indeed be stuck with no more than you  
> already have.

Oh, please.  What I was saying is that there is plenty of light
fiction, and even lots of great literature, for any one person.
Perhaps I'm more optimistic than some; I think that great literature
will continue to be written, regardless of how the business side of
things changes, though I suspect relatively less light fiction.

Now, you would be right to argue that fiction decays (perhaps one of
the great classification features for dividing literature from mere
fiction); most ephemeral novels are set in a very specific place and
time without making that place and time essential to the story.  As
the world changes, the "oddness" of the setting often detracts more
and more from the story, making it seem more and more stilted ("Why
don't they use a cellphone here?", or "Can't that be found on the
Web?").  So even if there is currently a great stock of leisure
reading, it does have a half-life and needs to be replaced.

> While you may be right that novels are losing their pre-eminent share  
> of our leisure attention, you undoubtedly also know that the trend in  
> book sales (including the fiction segment) is upward. This is true  
> even if you look at copies sold.

In the US, literacy is declining, and books read per capita is
declining.  That's what I'm talking about.

> And let us not forget -- the novel is a relatively small part of the  
> total book publishing picture.

Yes, I think the decline in use of novels for leisure is not
necessarily reflective of the book scene as a whole.  I'm just saying
that "events" like J. K. Rowling will be increasingly rare.

Bill

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