By "you," referencing the attitudes of those who dismiss out of hand authors who have earned some sort of cultural cachet in favor of what? Would I trust a non-expert to fix my car? To diagnose a medical condition? To do my taxes?
Of course not. Then why would I want to trust a non-expert when it comes to evaluating things such as music, literature, and cinema? I've learned something of the first and last through observation, but I've also discovered that there's a ton of people with shit tastes.
If you've never read The Magic Mountain or Doctor Faustus and want to praise Brandon Sanderson of all people for what he writes, there truly is no accounting for taste.
I agree with the crux of your point, but how the hell can you compare a literary/art critic with a mechanic, accountant or a doctor? No art critic can make definitive, objective, true-in-all-contexts statements about what is "good" and what is not.
You can trust a doctor to fix your body and not a random guy because there is definite knowledge a doctor has is real.
If you "trust" an art critic to tell you what is good, then you're hopeless. The best a critic can do is explain his personal reaction to any work in terms that can help you choose. The best of them will compare with other relevant works, explore the context of the work, etc., and the worst will simply use a points or star system. Either way, you read multiple reviews, compare the critics view with your own, and "trust" him or not on the basis of how much your tastes match. Hardly a scientific process.
Brandon Sanderson plans 36 books in his 'Cosmere' setting
19/02/2012 11:45:24 AM
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Was Sanderson created by the Writng Gods to counter balance GRRM?
19/02/2012 05:13:07 PM
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I just wish he'd be done with the RJ shit and go back to writing his own books.
19/02/2012 05:40:59 PM
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well, the publication date for that book is set somewhere a year from now..
19/02/2012 07:48:58 PM
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Agreed on both points.....
19/02/2012 08:00:41 PM
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Well, but he is a "fluff" writer from a literary standpoint
20/02/2012 02:16:11 AM
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Not a fluff writer in my mind.....
20/02/2012 03:12:46 AM
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You don't seem to want to hear what I'm saying
20/02/2012 03:51:13 AM
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And I am saying that storytelling is more important.....
20/02/2012 04:52:39 AM
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Storytelling is crucial...
20/02/2012 05:59:57 AM
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A few comments/replies about your post.....
20/02/2012 02:57:16 PM
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You are correct in one respect: all of this is opinion.
20/02/2012 07:01:11 PM
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You sound like one of those nasty "literary elites"!
20/02/2012 08:07:13 PM
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Literature is subjective
21/02/2012 12:26:35 AM
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I agree with your point about reading Shakespeare from textbooks.
21/02/2012 03:18:37 AM
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Never heard of Thomas Mann and the real Mona Lisa.....
21/02/2012 03:34:12 AM
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Conversely, why should I trust the likes of you?
21/02/2012 06:19:18 AM
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Oh, come now...
21/02/2012 10:35:18 AM
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When it comes to evaluating schema, I'm not going to trust someone who only had English 101
21/02/2012 11:26:03 AM
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Larry = snob
21/02/2012 05:34:22 PM
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Amusing
21/02/2012 07:49:20 PM
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Wow, you lack basic reading comprehension skills.....
21/02/2012 08:29:24 PM
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No, I read that and didn't disagree that there couldn't be works that had both (read other comments)
21/02/2012 09:23:31 PM
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Uh...Faust is a play. Doctor Faustus is a novel. The former is Goethe, the latter is Mann. *NM*
22/02/2012 12:00:22 AM
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I suppose fame is relative, but the most famous Doctor Faustus, to me personally, is indeed a play.
22/02/2012 07:29:59 PM
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Wait, let's look at the gross disconnect between two statements.
21/02/2012 01:59:34 PM
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So true about the Mona Lisa.
21/02/2012 07:57:41 PM
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Yes, I was at the Louvre and you are right.....
21/02/2012 08:32:40 PM
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This is where your own rethoric defeats you...
23/02/2012 06:38:54 AM
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Slow down - it may not be the current elites that are hyping it.....
23/02/2012 05:12:47 PM
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Re: Slow down - it may not be the current elites that are hyping it.....
13/03/2012 03:10:12 AM
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Seems like an awful lot.
19/02/2012 08:11:22 PM
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Sanderson is a machine. Also, the books (so far) have been wildly different
20/02/2012 12:50:41 AM
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Re: Sanderson is a machine. Also, the books (so far) have been wildly different
20/02/2012 03:00:17 AM
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Same here- I didn't know about the Cosmere at all until I started poking around online
21/02/2012 03:25:36 AM
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Likewise. After reading Mistborn and Warbreaker I started looking into him more
21/02/2012 06:20:09 PM
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It's likely to stay that way...
20/02/2012 06:22:50 AM
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Confirmation on the Mistborn trilogies. I am so happy. *NM*
20/02/2012 05:38:23 AM
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I am thrilled to see that there will be more stories about Wax and Wayne.....
20/02/2012 03:46:37 PM
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The one issue I had with that book...
21/02/2012 06:21:29 PM
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