[New-Poetry] Baiting

[Bob Grumman]

TheOldMole wrote:
> Well, you know me, Bob -- I'll always rise to a challenge. But in this 
> case I had nothing to say. I don't think message and technique exist 
> locked away in separate rooms. 
Nor do I, but they both have an effect.  Take Obama's speeches: are they 
praised because they say what many people want to hear or are they 
praised because they are genuinely eloquent?  No baiting here: I haven't 
listened to any of them, so have no opinion, and don't care.  Just an 
example.  I can't think of any poets or other writers as good examples, 
but am sure there are many who said what people of their time liked but 
didn't last because they didn't say it lastingly. 

> In general, people are going to be more interested in reading stuff 
> they're interested reading, and they're going to be interested in 
> reading that stuff delivered by the best writers. This is true in 
> every field, It's why horror fans read Stephen King more than they 
> read some shlub, and romance readers are going to spring for Nora 
> Roberts more often than Roberts-plagiarizer Cassie Edwards.
I half-agree.  One problem is that when a really good writer writes a 
genre novel, it will be called a Serious Novel--and won't capture the 
audience a Stephen King novel will. 
I'm not sure the truly best genre novels are the most popular.  But 
maybe.  I think Rex Stout was terrific, for example, and his stuff was 
very popular.

--Bob