Melbourne Writers Festival: Democratizing literature
JWT Melbourne
The Cult of Literature
The Oxford English dictionary defines the word Literature as the 'knowledge of books' especially those considered of superior or lasting artistic merit. It is a term that over the years has been a marker of social status and scoped the kind of readings expected of the educated classes. It is this definition that has perhaps contributed greatly to creating distance between writers, their writings and mainstream society. When the common man/woman thinks of 'literary writers' and their patrons he/she thinks of men in beards wearing cravats and smoking pipes....
