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Originally Posted by Random32
I think significance will matter more in the end that staying power. People studying RTS's will look back at Dune 2 since it is one of the most influential works in the genre, Starcraft will probably remembered more as an eSport than an RTS.
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Not necessarily. The first known epic (I think) is the "The Epic of Gilgamesh", but while gilgamesh is certainly significant, it's the Iliad and the Odyssey that are considered "Classics", while Gilgamesh is simply a historical curiosity.
I think Starcraft will be the classic, because it's so refined, and is likely the best made RTS ever. Dune 2 is simply too crude, and Starcraft was just as innovative, in that it featured asymmetric but balanced factions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Random32
You make a point there, but I think there is a level of sheer popularity where popularity alone can secure an author a spot in history. A criticism against Harry Potter is that children will be disappointed by the fact it "trains children and adults to expect the roar of the coliseum, a mass-media experience that no other novel can possibly provide." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...301730_pf.html |
Something that also has to be borne in mind when discussing "classics" is that a lot of people slip into the trap of thinking that the classics we read today were the mass market entertainments of their day. Other then the occasional Mark Twain, on the whole they weren't. For one thing, many people were illiterate, and of the people who were literate, many were too poor to actually afford books at all.
If we look at the popular literature of other centuries, most of it, like today, was genre fiction, not "high fiction". I don't think our culture has regressed, but I think people read more in different ways.
Though I have to confess, I do find a lot of "dramatic" non-genre fiction to be rather dull. A lot of it is basically plots about some prostitute dying on the streets of Bohemia, or some lingering meditation on middle class mediocrity and sexual desire. I can only take so much of things trying to be profound.
I think the best literature has the light touch of genre fiction, while still having a cohesive artistic edge.