Category: Writing Life
Last week when that article from Slate came out bashing adults who read YA novels, I was as outraged as everyone else who enjoys reading and/or writing books classified as teen lit. Many people, myself included, declared Slate writer Ruth Graham to be a literary snob. The definition fits. After all, “snob” defines a person who believes that their tastes in a particular area are superior to those of other people (in this case, Graham argues that adult literary fiction is superior to YA). But “snob” is an unflattering word, so it occurred to me that Graham probably doesn’t consider herself a snob, but rather a “guardian of good taste” — because that’s how I see myself when I criticize books.
Holy hell, am I just like Graham? Are we snobs? Let’s find out…