you're telling me you get to make arguments about my opinions and what I consider great work? I recognize the greatness of Shakespeare. I don't place Gatsby in that category. And yes, it is about opinion. Making the school literature reading list doesn't in any way suggest greatness.
I probably should read Gatsby again but I didn't particularly enjoy it in school. I agree that it was boring.
I thought it started slow in the first three chapters to set everything up. However, once it got going I thought the story was excellent.
and I think that's fine, but I'm not sure what qualifies it as better than hordes of other novels out there. One of the few things that made it better was the fact that it was short.
No. I judge whether I personally like a book based on whether I like it. I'm not arrogant enough to think that just because I don't like a book, that means it sucks. No. Read the post. I'm saying you get to have whatever opinion you want, but that doesn't mean it has any effect whatsoever on the book's greatness as a literary text. Yeah, because NO ONE other than those pointy headed literature prof types like Gatsby. Just because you don't see something in a text doesn't mean everyone else doesn't. Ever read The Waste Land? The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock? Why are they considered some of the best modernist poetry texts? I sure as hell don't know. I don't particularly like them, but that doesn't mean I question their overall greatness as texts. I just accept that maybe others recognize things I don't.
I read the post. You're arguing greatness and implying that I need to agree because of consensus, which is crap. How a book gets onto those lists is purely about opinion. There is no objective criteria. Your second sentence that tries to alienate a dissenting opinion with "everyone else..." is academia BS. Your last makes no sense. I don't read poetry and couldn't possibly care any less about some "prevailing opinion" regarding greatness. Why in the hell can't you make up your own mind about greatness rather than be told by consensus? Had I never read Gatsby, I'd have no opinion and accept the consensus. As to the poetry, I'll accept the prevailing view because I don't care what it might be. Should I find myself reading it, I'll make up my own mind.
I believe it was a first of its kind, and like kpt said, Fitzgerald can string words together like none other. There were several sentences and words that I read that I would reread just for the pure beauty of them.
I'm not telling you to do anything. I don't give a damn if you agree. I'm just saying there's a lot more going for the book than against it. I do have my own opinion. I've read it once, on my own (not with a class), and it's one of the best literary texts I've read. How many times have you read it?
I've read the book on multiple occasions. I re-read it about 6 months ago when all of the new movie buzz was about to prove to myself that it was better than my impression. Again, it wasn't. I'm not asking you to agree with me. I'm asking you to do your best to understand that I don't think it's great, regardless what generations of teachers and professors might tell us. And what the hell is a literary text? It's either a novel or it isn't.
Poetry, short stories, novels are all literary texts. Paintings, films, sculpture are all texts that aren't literary. I don't know why you keep mentioning teachers and professors. Is cotton a professor?
Yeah. It's a bit of a fallacious argument, though."You only think it's so great because everybody thinks its great." It's also irrefutable, so I guess it wins?
