Literature (was HP on Sparknotes.com)

[David]

Cindy wrote:
>I suppose that it is certainly possible for a newspaper 
> or magazine to print something that is literature (New Yorker does 
> this, IMO), but by and large, I always figured literature was 
> something with lasting value.  Not something you haul to the curb 
on 
> Thursdays.  ;-)

Well, a few years ago I was an intermittent newspaper buyer, and I 
noticed that on on day in the week the review section of the 
Independent carried this spoof diary, under the byline "Bridget 
Jones' Diary".  I liked it and started to make sure that I bought 
the paper on that day (I can't remember if it was Thursday or 
what).  Then one day I saw that they had been collected together and 
published as a book, by Helen Fielding.  Whether that counts 
as 'literature' I leave to more discriminating minds than mine, but 
there it is.

> 
> Maybe the acid test for me is whether people will ever quote HP -- 
> you know, the way people quote established literature to make a 
> point in a serious paper or a speech.  

Again, I am waiting for the rise of the word Muggle to describe 
those not in the know or not able to follow a technical subject, 
e.g. for civil servants to describe the public as 'the Muggles'.  I 
haven't heard it yet, but it's so obvious I feel it's got to happen.

David