Friday, February 27, 2009

Old order changeth ...

... `I Like to Live in a Good Age'. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

The age of the professional writer may well be coming to an end, but I am not sure that this necessarily presages "the coming of a new Dark Age for literacy and literature." After all, quite a bit of great literature was created before people could make a living from their pens simply by selling the product thereof. Think of it this way. If Emily Dickinson had had a PC, she might well have gained recognition in her lifetime. Also, huge amounts of forgettable writing may not be written - simply because there is no longer a market for it and also because people who wrote only because there was money in it won't bother to anymore. But one is thing is certain: As far as writing is concerned, the times sure are a-changin'.

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