/lit/ - Literature

>>18057483
There's a type of person here who only reads books with sufficient cultural prestige and will approach anything unknown with a good deal of trepidation. He views literature as a path to intellectual superiority and the high class cultural marker of being "well-read". Anything truly obscure is a waste of his time. The true sweet spot for him is something only just known enough in literary circles to have it's set of fans, but a name that would never be recognised by someone not steeped in the culture.

The problem with this type of person is that they never develop an eye of their own, their own taste. They're no better than the aspirational girls who hang around VIP lounges, hoping to learn the codes of high-end brands and foods, rote-learning what elites talk about to impress their friends back home. This user can recognise a patrician author in a different context, but only after it's been shown to him by trusted tastemakers. He's often unsure of what he thinks of something genuinely novel, he can recognise the presence of experimentation, but delays his definite opinion until he can turn to a cultural authority. He does not have a coherent set of favorites, more of a curated assortment of authors best calculated to show off his impressive taste. He will never truly love literature, only approaching each new author and book as the next checkbox in his eternal, doomed quest to be considered cultured.