“Literature” has, in both form and way it reached the
readers, evolved during its course of history. The long dramas of Shakespearean
Era refuting the dogmas and structure of the erstwhile Elizabethan Era, the
emergence of various forms of poetries and establishing certain conventions in
the usage of symbolism and appreciation of beauty of the Romantic Era, the rise
to prominence of the ‘novel’ genre in the Victorian Era (which still continues
as one of the foremost genre), cite only one thing- that Literature, like any
other thing in the universe, follows the only constant thing “Change“.
With the evolution of lifestyles, has evolved our
literature. There was a certain time writing was seen as a non paying
profession. Unless the current time when some writers who by employing certain
celluloid-inspired methods to promote their books, garner greater readership
and hence make huge profits in this “dying business”. They treat their book as
a “startup” or business and go on to profit from it. This group of authors who
run this enterprise are known as “AUTHORPRENEURS”.
These authorpreneurs have given a new dimension to modern
literature. We can find many a newcomers taking up writing as a profession. The
authors who reach the level of stardom can boast of having readership
equivalent to that of fans of any superstar.
Why do we need authorpreneurs?
Often there were instances of many good books never see the
light of the day or even upon doing so, they barely reach beyond a handful number
of bookshelves. These authorpreneurs take it to themselves to make it reach
satisfactory number of readers. The number of bestsellers has increased, so did
the number of readers. His is certainly a positive sign for those taking up
writing as a profession. They no longer have to worry about money to some
extent.
But how far does commercialization of literature help
literature?
As a matter of fact literature was never bereft of
commercialization. Shakespeare never out rightly opposed Elizabethan beliefs so
as to maintain the number of audience visiting his theatre. Dickens began
serializing his novels to keep the readers always in want of the complete
story.
In the current times however obtaining better profits from
books has become more prior to coming up with better books. We know how a
product rightly advertised sells irrespective of its quality. So will looking
at a form of art as a product mean the decline of its quality imminent? Well to
some extent it does so. Many writers without putting in much research and hard
work bring out their novels.
This situation gives rise to two different segments of
readers. On one hand we have selective readers (the class) who settle for
nothing less than good, on the other hand, we have the mass, who give in to
popular fiction without considering about literature. The readers of belonging
to the class feel low towards the mass and look down upon them as mere less
educated. This causes dissent to the writers of the mass. This gives way to “LITERAL
DISCRIMINATION”.
Moreover the business these books do currently in the market
has no indication whether it would go down in the history as “classical”.
Whether our era of authorpreneurs will be regarded of as highly in future as
the erstwhile eras are? Well it will be better to leave these questions for
time to answer.
As it has always been difficult to identify something as
black or white distinctively for everything is to varying extents “grey”. We
have to accept the two sides of the coin. Being literal about literature, if
thorns could be appreciated in spite of bearing thorns, we must all see the
good about our era thus adjusting ourselves to the thorn. We as readers,
pivotal to the whole scenario, must understand the difference and appreciate
the good. We must not allow someone to take advantage of our aloofness and
misguide us towards having a bleak conception about literature.
Hope to see better days in future. Keep reading, keep loving.
