Why did literature start falling off in quality in the mid-20th century?

Why did literature start falling off in quality in the mid-20th century?

Literacy levels only rose from that period. So shouldn't there be a larger pool of people for great writers to come from?

Rise of invisible style. Literacy levels only appeared to rise because the barrier of entry was lowered because of the former.

Less room for improvement left. Also more comfortable lives are bad for creativity.

The success of mass market paperbacks and paperback originals. More people were reading but more people were reading crap too.

because of liberals and women

The rise of narcissism and the pursuit of art for the sake of ego rather than to enhance humanity.

>why did literature get worse after TV and radio became popular

its got worse since the internet became a behemoth too

Telephones became more widely available. Once letter writing was no longer a daily thing for most people, their standards of prose writing began to drop, and the average persons ability to read prose declined.

To add to this: Pynchon and DFW are/were never satisfied with fame.

when in doubt...

This.

it's the inevitable result of modernism though so it has it's roots in the 19th century.

1. Modernism made originality a major value in poetry and fiction, causing writers to stop incrementally progressing and using the various reliable traditional forms like the sonnet and the marriage novel.

2. Print culture began to die in the mid-20th century. Television and film were ascendant. The great writers of the 1950s+ are as likely to become film/television writers as they are to become novelists, poets, etc.

3. Maybe it hasn't. Increased literacy means we have an incredible amount of junk to sort through.

>Print culture began to die in the mid-20th century.
Yes and No. The pulp magazines were dead but books were affordable to the masses for the first time with mass market paperbacks. Prices as low as a pack of cigs. They had reached a penetration far beyond the bookstore. Book sales were very strong. It's just that most of it wasn't literature.

>something being popular and accessible improves quality

It's the exact opposite.

Usually it does. It just you draw and arbitrary line, literature in mid 20th was already pretty popular. Compare vidya from the 90s with more recent stuff. Compare simplistic music from centuries before with classical concerts from Liszt.

>Compare vidya from the 90s with more recent stuff
bad example. 90's vidya was the "golden age"

Only that it was still very limited and boring for most people due being so simplistic. Something like GTA V or Witcher 3 is almost another art form.

Literature, being the product of individual genius, has its good periods and its bad periods. Some time ago i read a 1770 newspaper article that lamented the bad state of literature and how youngsters were only reading bad books (i don't remember if it was french or russian). The reasons why we're in a bad period for literature (are we tho? it's entirely possible that great works have been published but we don't know them because critics were too stupid to recognize the genius: after all this has happened several times during history) we're living are imo the american cultural domination and the overbearing personal interconnection (solitude is the greatest source of good lit).

Can't speak for GTAV but The WItcher 3 is literally just a TV show with a controller attachment.

It looks good and has nice stories sure, but all its really doing is continuing trends that had a hugely negative effect on vidya (Ubisoft open world formula, cinematic emphasis, etc)

Do you think it'll turn around anytime soon? I'm lonely as fuck

>we're living
oops, this wasn't supposed to be there

democratization of the arts

Unlike with Ubi, you do actually visit new worlds, and in case of W3 can make decisions that affect the story you see. Rockstar or CD Project never fell for the ubi formula. Only if you strictly follow the story, it's somewhat "tv show (with good writing) to play".

And sure, the latter bit was true for games from the 90s but the presentation took a lot away from the experience and you were forced to do more work with your own imagination.

Books used to be the entertainment of choice on demand, then VCR's, video games, then Netflix binging.

Reading is individual and this culture (as a whole) can't stand be left alone in a quiet room with their own thoughts, let alone with book of other people's.

With smartphones you are never truly alone, or with someone. Or in a chan. . . .

If you use BookTube as your model, readers are overwhelmingly female and gay-and fake, for that matter.

>but the presentation took a lot away from the experience and you were forced to do more work with your own imagination.

This is actually better since #1 your experience becomes even more personalized and #2 the developers can do even more in the game.

The later Fallout games fall hella short compared to their predecessors since they're limited by 3D graphics and voice acting. New Vegas's writing holds up dont get me wrong, but its clear how this push for greater graphics and cinematic experiences is a HUGE ball & chain on videogames.

Also, there are many games from the PS1 era with unironically better graphics than many HD photoreal clusterfucks we have today. Art style beats everything in that respect.

The only difference is that people haven't told you what books to like yet

>solitude is the greatest source of good lit
How so?

>(solitude is the greatest source of good lit).
nice, looks like there's some hope for me after all

People have more exposure to great works than ever before. Books today SHOULD be better than anything in the past (just like with music and film), and I believe they are, but they need to be discovered.

>and in case of W3 can make decisions that affect the story you see

Holy shit get out. You have no idea what was accomplished beforehand.

culteral marxism

frankfurt school

Rise of popular culture. There used to be a divide between "culture" and "entertainment". Not so much anymore.

everyone in europe died and america got all of the communist weimar jews. "there can be no poetry after (((the holocaust)))"

also 'good taste' managed to get democratized by mass media, viral marketing, expanded readership, etc.

It didn't, One of the greatest novels of all times came out in 1975