The Death of Literature?

[LARSSON at VAX1.Mankato.MSUS.EDU]

Today, in the Minneapolis STAR-TRIBUNE, there was one of those occasional
pop crit pieces about whether Literature actually "matters" any more and
where all the "great" authors have gone.  It wasn't too extreme for that
kind of thing, noting the long-standing disparity between popularity and
"quality" (even in the opposition between, eg., Spillane and Hammett).

The most interesting thing about it, I thought, though was a Holmesian dog
that didn't bark: although there were references to Hemingway, Faulkner
et al. along with modern contenders ranging from Irving to Morrison, there
was *no* mention of TRP!

Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)