#anyway 'low brow' literature that is incredibly popular is actually really important

[clarasghosts]

it's not just about public opinion leaving things behind over time, either. it's about who decides what is good or important literature worth teaching. because what is taught is what is remembered. for example, anna laetitia barbauld (1743-1825) was a celebrity in her lifetime, a pioneer in children's literature and literary criticism, and an inspiration to the british writers that followed her (she was an early romanticist, wordsworth and coleridge both wrote of how they admired her, there's evidence of william blake being inspired by one of her books, elizabeth barrett browning could quote the opening line of another book, etc.), and yet she's largely unknown by the public today because academics in the early 20th century decided she just wasn't good and important enough to study.

i do think theres something sad about how largely only the literature that's considered especially good or important is intentionally preserved. i want to read stuff that ancient people thought sucked enormous balls