Again, I worded that poorly. The first sentence should read "... the existence of fiction, as opposed to non-fiction."

Rowling because I don't like Shakespeare much.

Well, it's a better discussion than the monkey poo-flinging at the "who's the most racist" thread.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=staSD9-wlRE
Love the wallpaper.

Shakespeare's better, but Harry Potter was the series of my childhood. I'm gonna vote Rowling, and the rest of you are going to ensure her defeat.

^I wouldn't be so sure of that, lol...

Shakespeare: 6
Rowling: 4

The Bard seems to be cursed in terms of drawing popular opponents, lol.

That was an instruction, not an analysis. Rowling should not be competitive here.

"Enjoyment is basically what justifies the existence of fiction. If all you want is insight or information, non-fiction is much more efficient. The advantage of fiction is that it can deliver similar insight to you in an enjoyable manner."

See, this is utterly false. Fiction can absolutely get ideas, feelings, and principles across that nonfiction can't at all. This is because we're not just proposition-processing machines. We're humans who relate to humans and process story on a fundamental level, as fundamental as proposition; and fiction is able to make points strongly that philosophical argument cannot. A great novel can teach as much about humans as a psychology textbook, perhaps more.

Fiction is not just the sugar coating on the pill of an idea. It IS the (necessary) medium for the idea. Honestly, you couldn't have said anything that would better support my idea that you have yet to experience the full range of what fiction offers.

In good fiction, the fiction is not "a bunch of made up stuff getting in the way" of loftier goals.

I'll admit that there are some other benefits to fiction over non-fiction, but I still assert that enjoyment is the main one. If someone's not enjoying a book, they're much less likely to care about the characters and situations that they're supposed to care about. Enjoyment helps strengthen a book's power significantly.

I have, in fact, read books that have significantly affected how I view the world, but they were all interesting enough to be enjoyable as well. I've also read books that were supposed to be mind-opening and insightful, but that I found to be incredibly boring. As a result, they had little impact on me, because reading them felt like something to get over with, not something to really get involved in. Of course, that was mostly stuff I read in high school, when I was, you know, teenagery, but the point still stands: a story can only do so much to affect someone who's not actually involved, and enjoyment gets people involved.

I guess maybe we should think of enjoyment as a "multiplier" - a book needs other qualities, but how enjoyable it is can still greatly effect whether it's a mediocre book or a great one.

Rowling because Shakespeare is OVERRATED

Rowling.

Shakespeare: 6
Rowling: 6

Here we go again, lol...

Rowling.

At least we get to see magic. She's also more widely read today than Shakespeare.

Well, well. Rowling beats Shakespeare.


Gobbledydook.
Mendax.
ghug.
bo_sox.
Chaqa.
Octavious.
2ndwhiteline.

Seven people who may be declared automatic losers, without substantive response, in any future discussion of literature on this website.

LOL..alas, The Rest is Silence for the Bard (I TOLD...CURSED LIKE MACBETH!) ;)

7-6, J.K. Rowling. But, for a final gripe--

"At least we get to see magic. She's also more widely read today than Shakespeare."

As the most-translated and most-performed author IN THE WORLD...

With respect--BULLSHIT.
I mean that.
Taking absolutely nothing away from J.K. (who's a big Shakespeare fan herself)...
If you really and truly think that--
Pull your head out from betwixt your cheeks, check the shit spewing from your mouth...

BULLSHIT. ;)

But, fair is fair...so Rowling beats the Bard.

It's finally time for Byron, then?

Yep, tomorrow, we get to see if we go two-for-two in terms of dethroning potential winners in the first round...

And it'll be the last match of the first round, so this lively, lovely thread is coming to an end after tomorrow, to be replaced by the Round of 32 thread (I guess seeding will just continue from highest to lowest in order of who's remaining, high seeds taking on low seeds?)

I think that no matter what happens next round, a potential winner is being dethroned.

Wow, Shakespeare lost. Didn't see that coming.

The reason I voted for Rowling is because this is the your favorite author tournament, not the BEST author tournament. Shakespeare is a good writer, yes, but I'd rather read Harry Potter than most of his work. That's why I voted Rowling.

Don't worry semck I already knew Octavious was a moron for literature when I saw he said he had never even heard of Thoreau

Chaqa +1

Thucy, why oh why must you act like such a God damned stereotype of an upper class twit all of the bloody time? Rowling was a literary phenomenon. In the internet age she inspired countless millions of children (and indeed adults) from across the globe to get into reading. She also inspired millions to write. Very few other authors have come close to matching such an achievement.

The forced reading of Shakespeare, by way of contrast, has had the opposite impact. Why? Reading Shakespeare simply ain't that good. The medium is wrong. Shakespeare should be experienced. It should be seen and heard and felt. The only people who should see it on paper should be actors and those who wish to study it.

Thoreau, on the other hand, is one of a few competent authors of his subject matter. If you happen to be a Yank and into that sort of thing I'm sure he should be amongst the first on your list. Outside of that handful of souls, however, he is an irrelevance.

obi, at least there was honour in losing to virgil eh

Seriously? I honestly was not expecting that.

Good spite votes everyone. It's people like us who ruin American Idol.

#votefortheworst

So which scifi writers are up next?

Lol

Shakespeare has lost this tournament twice now. Obi, please don't resurrect him again.

LOL, I said "The Rest is Silence," didn't I? ;)

(Though I still say to Gobbledygook, bullshit Rowling's read more, again, he's William Fucking Shakespeare, the most translated author in the world...he's literally performed every day of the year, too, all over the world.)

But anyway, now we get to see if the Vergil crowd gets pissed off! :p

Vergil vs. Lord Amazing, sorry, um, Lord Bowie, er, no, I mean, Lord Byron.

And since everyone did it against MY favorite author...fine then--

Vergil IS the more influential (BY FAR) but I think my above comments should be a hint as to how much I love the Lord Rock Star of Romantic Poetry, so...

Byron: 1
Vergil: 0

Byron. Virgil isn't scifi enough for me.

#votefortheworst

Byron.

Vergil.