“High Literary” writer here—- or, at least, aspiring. The field currently is intended to showcase expertise and is FOR people who love the complexity. It’s too elite to have a broad-enough market. Its exclusivity is part of its appeal due to the challenge and extreme beauty.
However, very few people have the energy, care, or knowledge base for the deep reading these texts require. Some of our best writers knew this and used their wit to get around it. For example, Robert Frost wrote expert poetry FOR the people in his rural community. However, his work can also be read on multiple levels, which appeals to the rare reader who lives for literary pyrotechnics.
So maybe writers need to work on multiple levels like Frost. The market is telling us that what we’re producing isn’t up to snuff, and rather than blaming the market, we should ask ourselves whether our creations actually reflect people’s lives back to them. Should the reader come to us, like the article is implying—-people just aren’t appreciating art enough, etc—-or should we go to the reader?
However, very few people have the energy, care, or knowledge base for the deep reading these texts require. Some of our best writers knew this and used their wit to get around it. For example, Robert Frost wrote expert poetry FOR the people in his rural community. However, his work can also be read on multiple levels, which appeals to the rare reader who lives for literary pyrotechnics.
So maybe writers need to work on multiple levels like Frost. The market is telling us that what we’re producing isn’t up to snuff, and rather than blaming the market, we should ask ourselves whether our creations actually reflect people’s lives back to them. Should the reader come to us, like the article is implying—-people just aren’t appreciating art enough, etc—-or should we go to the reader?