/lit/ - Literature

What is Rothfuss's best book?

A lot of very smart academics have really raised the question as to whether or not the concept of canon is valid at all. Generally speaking, most of the genuinely intelligent people don’t take the hard line anymore. Literature on one side of the fence, popular fiction on the other side. The smart academics know that the literature of today was the populist fiction of back in the day.

Also, the more historically savvy academics are realizing that if they plant their flag in the sand and say “here there be literature” then claim everything else is kind of pointless and stupid, they’re going to eventually drown to death in the drooling stupidity of their obsolescence.

Because truthfully, there are stories being told today which are every bit as mythic, cunning, clever, witty and worthwhile as Shakespeare. The stories told by Joss Whedon are among the finest of any storyteller in any medium ever. Neil Gaiman has very firmly proven that you can tell a story about ghosts or faeries or strange happenings and have it be valued across many different cultures all over the world.

If I did believe in canon, what should be adopted into canon? Effectively, you’re just asking me what my favorite books are, so that’s an easy question. I think The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle is possibly the finest book ever written. A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare is one of the finest pieces of fantasy ever written. Hamlet’s a good piece of fantasy too, it’s got a ghost in it, so that belongs to us. It's genre fiction.

http://www.openthefridge.net/blog/2012/11/9/wfc-2012-interview-with-author-patrick-rothfuss.html

What is /lit/'s general consensus on Rothfuss? In my opinion, he is the best new author in last 3 decades. He hasn't written many novels yet, but Good God the quality of them.

>>2792974
Rothfuss is so fucking gay for his faultless and infallible Mary Sue know-it-all author self-insert that is not even funny.

Patrick Rothfuss.
Heard any rumors on book three? His series is a masterpiece, in my opinion.

>>2695751

no, this is patrick

"The lion's share of old-school literature IS fantasy, they just pretend it isn't. The Odyssey is full of gods and spells. Oedipus Rex has a sphinx and a prophecy. There are witches in Macbeth, faeries in Midsummer Night's Dream, and a ghost in Hamlet. Dante's Inferno? Beowulf? All looks like fantasy to me....

I think a lot of people read and respect fantasy storytelling. A lot of the more forward-thinking colleges offer classes studying it, though they usually call it speculative fiction or magical realism to make themselves feel better. We all know the truth though: it's fantasy.

As far as having my book recognized as literature? [Pat shrugs] Why would I want that? I mean, have you read Great Expectations? Gech. Why would I want to invited into their little club? Give me Tim Powers and Phillip K Dick. Give me Le Guin, Gaiman, and Pratchett. Give me McKillip and Whedon. These are the storytellers. These are our modern mythmakers. Our oracles. Our dreamers. I want to be on that team." 　　　— Patrick Rothfuss

http://www.sffworld.com/interview/224p1.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRpBpSW6eKU#t=05m10s
(video should autoskip to 5:10. if it doesn't, skip to 5:10 yourself)

This is what Patrick Rothfuss thinks about literary fiction.

Is it some sort of law that fantasy authors have beards and look like wild men?