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Literary Merit and Harry Potter

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Abstract

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Section 1: Background

Literary Merit

Most people have an understanding of what literary merit means; However, there is no solid definition of what gives a work literary merit. Part of what make literary merit so hard to understand is that it can not be judged on a absolute scale. A work can relatively have more merit than another, however there is no standard on judging merit between books. This means that how someone would rank literary merit depends on their background and what they personally deem important. (Source 4)

There is still some consensus that certain works, like Shakespeare's plays, do have a high amount of literary merit while others, such as something written by a third grader, do not. Three of the factors that effect how people perceive a work's literary merit are how long it's been discussed, how popular it is, and its target audience. Time is one of the most significant factors into determining literary merit. Any work that can last over an extended period of time and still be discussed has its quality slowly proven.(sources 4,6,7) Having a work last over time means that it did not become discussed solely due to a particular time periods tastes and filters out judgement that do not have to do with the works quality. (source 7)
Despite the modern day definition of popular being a positive attribute, it carries a negative connotation when it is applied to a literary work. When a work is considered to have literary merit it is also considered to be more high class. Since popular was originally used to describe common people as opposed to the aristocracy, it is considered to be of a low class and therefore cannot posses enough artistic credibility to have literary merit. (source 5)
Like popularity, target audience of a work can have a perceived effect on how much artistic credibility has independently from the quality of the work. This is most apparent in children's literature. modern day society tends to view children as inept and shallow, causing any books written for children to not be taken seriously.(source 1). Additionally, many children's book series tend to be mass produced, such as Nancy Drew, which also contributes to the sentiment of children's literature lacking in depth and artistic credibility. (source 5).

The academic canon is a collection of literature that have enough value to be taught in schools. There is a lot of controversy regarding canon and what should be included. Some literary specialist feel that the canon is to narrow and exclusive well others fear that the criteria are too broad. Those who support opening the canon to new works feel that having the canon devalues works not included and that the current canon does not include enough diversity and should include more minority authors, such as women and people of different ethnicities. (sources 6,7) Those against opening the canon feel that bring in new works would devalue the ones currently included and that the current criteria of including works that are held in discussion over a long period of time and are held in esteem is open enough despite the current lack of diversity.(source 7)

Harry Potter

Why it's not consider to have literary merit
popularity (5,3,1)
target audience(3,1)

Why last paragraph shouldn't effect literary merit
Children viewed as shallow(1)
comparison to Lord of the Rings and Dickens(1)

benifits of Harry Potter
Characters are more relatable and human while still being heroes (3, 2)
what it teaches, morals,self reliance, perseverance, empathy, accepting diversity, collective responsibility, good v evil, cooping with life (2,1)
teaches a lot of the same strength as more "adult" books ie. Mans Search for Meaning etc. in a much more gentle manner (2)

old stuff I might not use

There are two reasons that Harry Potter is not considered to have literary merit: its target audience and its immediate popularity. Since children's book tend to be simplified there is an assumption that they will not be complex enough to have literary merit (source 5). If a book is too popular it is also considered to lack literary merit because its simple enough for the more common person to enjoy instead of more high class people(source 5). Neither of these factor into the value of the book, This can be seen in the fact that The Lord of the Rings was initially considered to lack literary merit and is still questioned today. Shakespeare was considered to be pop culture when it was written and has unarguable literary merit. I'll write this better later (need a section on complexity and lessons given in Harry Potter should give it literary merit)(time in relation to literary merit)(more sources about the definition of literary merit for first background section)(replace source marks with actual references)

Section 2: Deliverable

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Whats worth teaching

I honestly have no clue what I'm doing

Subsection 2

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@@ Line 28: / Line 28: @@
 ==Literary Merit==
 <br>
-Vagueness of lit merit(4) <br><br>
-aspects that effect lit merit<br>
-time(4,6,7)<br>
-popularity(5)<br>
-target audience(5)<br><br>
-what is Canon(6,7)<br>
-criteria to become canon/ opening canon(6,7)<br><br><br><br>
 Most people have an understanding of what literary merit means; However, there is no solid definition of what gives a work literary merit. Part of what make literary merit so hard to understand is that it can not be judged on a absolute scale. A work can relatively have more merit than another, however there is no standard on judging merit between books. This means that how someone would rank literary merit depends on their background and what they personally deem important. (Source 4) <br><br>
 There is still some consensus that certain works, like Shakespeare's plays, do have a high amount of literary merit while others, such as something written by a third grader, do not. Three of the factors that effect how people perceive a work's literary merit are how long it's been discussed, how popular it is, and its target audience. Time is one of the most significant factors into determining literary merit. Any work that can last over an extended period of time and still be discussed has its quality slowly proven.(sources 4,6,7) Having a work last over time means that it did not become discussed solely due to a particular time periods tastes and filters out judgement that do not have to do with the works quality. (source 7)<br>
@@ Line 44: / Line 34: @@
 The academic canon is a collection of literature that have enough value to be taught in schools. There is a lot of controversy regarding canon and what should be included. Some literary specialist feel that the canon is to narrow and exclusive well others fear that the criteria are too broad. Those who support opening the canon to new works feel that having the canon devalues works not included and that the current canon does not include enough diversity and should include more minority authors, such as women and people of different ethnicities. (sources 6,7) Those against opening the canon feel that bring in new works would devalue the ones currently included and that the current criteria of including works that are held in discussion over a long period of time and are held in esteem is open enough despite the current lack of diversity.(source 7)
-old stuff I may or may not use once I start writing<br><br>
-Most people have an understanding of what literary merit means; However, there is no solid definition of what causes a work to have literary merit. Some would define it as having enough artistic credibility to be worth reading (source 5). What makes a work wort reading can vary from person to person. Some might find classic more worth reading others might base it more of of complexity and themes. Literary merit can be determined on a relative scale but is to vague to have an absolute scale. Additionally how books rank might vary based on what literary merit is being defined as (source 4). Generally a work is considered to have literary merit if there is clear value in reading it. Due to the history of literature and social class popular book are not typically considered to have literary merit. This is because literature was supposed to exist mainly in the more aristocratic classes while popular defines lower classes.
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