Required Reading:
This is the best explanation I’ve ever read about what makes literature “literature.” If you are a writer–or an intrigued reader who always wanted to know why critics and literature professors do not consider Janet Evanovich’s novels “literary,” check out this essay by Oliver. Oliver also likes to write about beer, and he creates amusing dioramas out of Lego people and gnome statuettes to illustrate his ideas. Happy reading! –Shelley:)

Literature and Libation

I had a James Joyce-style epiphany regarding the idea of a “writing vision” while sitting in class this week. It struck me that while I knew why I liked to write, and what I like to write, and even sometimes how I like to write, I was still missing an overarching vision for what kind of writing I wanted to do.

This may seem odd. “Oliver, writing is writing, you silly person”, you might say out loud while reading this, rolling your eyes and mentally noting that I’m not very smart sometimes. And yes, in some capacity, that is true. But what separates Shakespeare from Stephanie Meyer? What makes Hemingway and Hawthorne worth reading, all these years after their time? Why do some authors stand the test of time, while others disappear into the 1$ bargain bin of history?

No one would argue that Dan Brown, Stephen King, James Patterson, and John…

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