Edgar Beach wrote:

>Bernard Chasan at [log in to unmask] wrote:
>
>>Classical music is unpopular because it requires an attention span and a
>>commitment.
>
>Reading a good book requires attention and commitment also.  Yet Reading
>still remains a popular human endeavor because there are still good books
>being written and read today.  Some may even attain classic status.

Yet just how big is the reading public for good books, those which
might attain classic staus? I remember that about ten years ago the
novelist Phillip Roth estimated that there were about 60,000 readers in
this country who regularly read serious fiction.  I don't know how he got
that estimate, but there it is.If true, it means that about 1 in 300 adults
is so involved.  The publishing of serious novels is not is not profitable
and it is becoming harder for promising young writers to get published.
I have little doubt that the poetry audience is even smaller.  So yes-
reading serious literature requires attention and commitment,and for that
reason, is very much a minority pastime.

Bernard Chasan