Sometimes I wonder if any books written in the last 10 years or so will ever make it to become "Great Literature". I purposely use quotes because I know, greatness is subjective. But I'm talking about the kind of book they force you to read in AP English and PhD candidates write entire thesises (theses?) on. What exactly makes a book Great Literature anyway?
From what I remember in high school there was a lot of talk about allegory and metaphor, motifs, protagonists, and symbolisms. Oh, and really long sentences (Grapes of Wrath and every goddam Bill Faulkner book come to mind.)
But at the time these works were published, did society realize they were witnessing the birth of "greatness"? When Shakespeare came out with his plays, people packed into these theatres to basically get cheap thrills watching murders, love affairs, and slapstick comedy (and a bit of cross-dressing as men played women's roles quite regularly). Come ON people, Oedipus slept with his *mother*. Even Fox wouldn't air that.
And yet here we are, Shakespeare noted as possibly the greatest writer ever. My point being, one of the great things about Shakespeare was that his works tapped into every conceivable human emotion, unflinchingly and completely. This makes readers relate to his stories, and this is what makes him great.
Does this mean my children's children's children just might one day be studying scripts for The OC?? Although actually, my vote would be for Friends. I know there are many who agree with me that pretty much any notable life situation can find resemblence to a Friends' episode. How many times have you heard someone say, "haha, it's just like that Friend's episode where…"
I know someone is going to chime in Seinfeld, but my argument for that is even though it's funny, their situations are too far fetched to bear resemblence to reality. But I dunno, maybe that doesn't matter. People study Kurt Vonnegut and Slaughterhouse-Five definitely lacks any resemblence to reality.
Can anyone name a book published in the last 10, no let's say 20 years that you can see schools in the future regularly adding to their curriculum?