Authors for Posterity

I'm listening yet again to Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen/Nadia May) and I'm reminded that Austen's works have held up admirably over a number of generations and are, to many, still as engaging as they were when first published.

And this calls to mind my conversation with My-Friend-the-Lawyer last night. He's the one who dragged me into reading my first Neal Stephenson. I used to own a beautiful hardcover copy of Cryptonomicon which someone absconded while I was in graduate school. But Stephenson, I discovered through serendipitous Amazoning, has a new book out in September and I think we're both planning to pre-order it. (At the very least, it's on my wish list, feel free to order me a copy for a Hedgehog Libra Birthday.)

I have a healthy respect for the literary abilities of Mr. Stephenson which began when I waded through that first book. Sibling-the-Elder has been reading him for longer than I have, but I think I might beat her through the Baroque Cycle if I sit down and put my mind to it. He's earned me street credibility with all kinds of people ("You read Stephenson? Okay, you're allowed to sit with the cool kids."), evoked numerous interesting conversations and--at the very least--he was able to picture the way our video games and technology was going a lot further in advance than I ever could. My first trip into Second Life oozed Snow Crash and the games of the future (360 degrees-full immersion/hologram deck/virtual reality type of things) only bring me more awe about him and his ability to see where we were/are headed.

Stephenson is an author who could be an interesting literary study on the collegiate level. I don't think anyone is teaching his works just yet as an elective but, as MFTL and I were agreeing last night, I'd love to see them taught! And, perhaps more importantly, I think Stephenson's works will stand up to the test of time.

My conviction of his durability as an author actually led to a presentation during college: looking at modern literature that we think will survive the ages. With all of the publishing and the thousands of books readily available to us, there are many books that will become irrelevant next week--let alone five or fifty years from now. So what are our Pride and Prejudices? Who do we have that will stand the test of time against Austen and Dickens? At the time I pointed to Crichton. Another attendee, a good friend at the time, considered bringing a then still rather new Rowling to the table. Whether or not she'll be an author handed down to our grandchildren remains to be seen, but certainly we may see her as a study in literary phenomenon (the excessively long and must be a multi-book series type).

So I now ask you: Who do you think will be held up to our great-great grandchildren as "authors of the late 20th, early 21st century"? Who will they say were the authors worth preserving? Who will still be in print? (This, of course, making the assuming that "print" still means something in that day and age.)

P.S. If you haven't read Snow Crash yet, RUN to your nearest library and grab a copy.

The Joys of Over-Social-Networking

I don't remember the subject of my first email--but I believe that I sent it somewhere around my 8th grade or freshman year of high school. Then, after four years of becoming increasingly addicted to email, I went to college. Ethernet brought instant messaging and a whole new world of friends in immediacy.

Now...I feel like I'm assaulted on every side with new ways to meet and interact with people and the vast majority of them are going by the wayside. Ones that I've tried include AIM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, Trillian, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Ning, SecondLife, LibraryThing, LinkedIn and somewhere I think I still have a registration to Judy's Book. I'm sure I've forgotten something...

And apparently I'm showing my age because I still prefer to email or send an instant message. Although the Verizon plan I signed up for this evening does include unlimited messaging to anyone on any network, I'm not even really into text messaging. I use it for a few friends--one in particular whose text-spelling is so horrendous that to actually read the message you get nothing but gobbly-gook. In this world of skimming and processing without my brain really working, I can always read her messages clearly. It's not a primary form of communication for me though...apparently this puts me behind the groove.

Among my immediate family, I'm the communicator. I have a couple of close friends from junior high still, one of whom I had dinner with a little over a week ago and another whose wedding I will attend in the fall. I keep up with people from past jobs, schools, lives (it feels that way some days). And yet--it took a conscious effort to remember that I had to go in and change a status on MySpace and Facebook last week. I don't have a huge desire to be "friends" with everyone in the United States with my last name. I don't feel the need to befriend cool strangers who "want to meet other cool people." Selectivity--it's a beauteous thing.

It's cool to regroup with friends from high school and cousins who I've not seen since before college but otherwise I tend to just hover. If an email comes in--great, I'll catch up with someone--but otherwise I tend to be somewhat unavailable. And considering I was out of college before I got my first cell phone--I have a feeling I'll continue to be that way.