/lit/ - Literature

What does /lit/ think of pen names? Are they necessary? Would you take one?

Secondary question:
>J"RR" Tolkien
>George "RR" Martin

Deliberate decision to help his books sell to the fantasy crowd?

ITT: You argue why literature is the highest form of art and rank the others from most to least worthy of respect.

Forms include:
>painting
>dance
>music
>photography
>cinema
>poems
>etc

>>4174877
I did my BA in English and philosophy and have read enough heavy sledding celebrated Western canon books to last me a lifetime. I enjoyed a lot of them (Moby-Dick's my all-time fav) but I have a lot more fun reading fantasy and more lighthearted stuff like Steinbeck.

>Also, do you really need to read a full body of work for an author to be your favorite?
No, but if OP wanted to know a single book s/he'd have asked exactly that. I read it as choosing someone we consistently enjoy.

>>4174882
Perhaps. Tolkien popularized high fantasy, and Steinbeck is a big name in regional American writing. Both are often dismissed (wrongly in my opinion) for exactly those reasons.

>>4066405
>The only bad part is the self obsessed asshole who keeps talking about his sci-fi military epic that he's THINKING about writing and how it's so amazing etc, and manages to sound really smug about it.

I know someone just like this. He never shuts up about it. He tells us how his great epic is going to be the greatest sci-fi story ever written, and that'll touch on philosophy, history, love, etc. Only he hasn't written a single page. Instead, he's spent countless months finding stock models and actors in the media to post on his Tumblr as examples of how different characters look, and he's already named each and every one of his chapters with pretentious nonsense.

He's also already made plans for the movie (lol), as it's going to be an instant best seller. I'm not joking, either. He has a list of directors and actors who he'd like in it.

Meanwhile, all his ideas are ripped off from video games and comic books.

It's actually kinda sad.