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/lit/ - Literature

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21838362 No.21838362 [Reply] [Original]

Is detective fiction/whodunits worth reading? Seems like it's only good as airport lit, a lot of garbage in it
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>> No.21838409

>>21838362
Light, easily digestible lit is nice before bed.

>> No.21838487
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21838487

>>21838362
Stop reading women and read my guy Conan Doyle.

>> No.21838512

At their best, they are what Orwell calls "good bad books". Not great monuments of literary style, but fun, entertaining reads that keep you hooked. Orwell noted that Sherlock Holmes had staying power in culture long after the most highly praised avant-garde authors of Conan Doyle's day had disappeared from all but the dusty bookshelves of literary critics. Christie and Doyle and Chandler aren't great writers, but their ability to produce engaging popular works that act as fun puzzles is a talent in and of itself.

>> No.21838521

>you cannot read only for fun because .... YOU JUST CAN'T OK??!!

>> No.21838548

>>21838512
There is something good in how the contraption of the mystery is designed and the participatory aspect of the reader trying to figure it out. I think it excels when the reader has perfect information and not when Sherlock fucks off for a few hours and solves it without this information being presented. Doyle is notorious for that kind of shit, unknowable inductive reasoning.