I do mean Stephen King. I like his writing, sure, but I hear too many people who seem to think he's the only writer that ever existed. I mean, I literally heard someone on a quiz show asked who wrote - something, can't remember, but obviously could not have been him - and the answer she gave was Stephen King.
I truly hope people continue to read, but think about it: even now I regularly meet people who "aren't bothered reading". When I say this, I should clarify that I guess I mean reading books - everyone reads on the internet of course, or on their phones. I've heard people say "I wouldn't read anything I wasn't forced to in school." This attitude is not, by any means, the majority but it is growing, and the idea of "why would you read?" is gaining too much traction for my liking.
I also wonder where we might be (if still extant) in a thousand years? Look how far we've come technologically in just a hundred. Might we not evolve, no longer need our eyes, ears, mouths and just assimilate information like computers? Maybe not, but there's no real reason to suppose than in another thousand years we would still be reading, that English or any of our languages would survive, that we wouldn't all be telepathic etc. Just ideas.
I'd put Shakespeare and Dickens kind of on the one level really - with the Bard the one the academics read and Dickens the one people read for enjoyment. I've tried reading Shakespeare and found it very tough going, and I'm an okay reader. The language has not aged well and you kind of need both a dictionary and a history book beside you when reading, to get all the nuances and understand what he's talking about. Most of us, unless studying, or very dedicated, don't have that kind of commitment.
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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018
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