What is commercial fiction? What is literature? Where is the line in the sand, and how can a book be considered both commercial and literature at the same time? I still have questions over what we discussed this week which was the differences between Commercial fiction and Literature. One question that really stands out to me is whether we judge the work based on what it was originally published as or what it's read as today. If you think about it, Shakespeare's Hamlet was written commercially. It was written to entertain people, yes there is a bunch of symbolism, but does containing symbolism make it literature? And today, we read Hamlet as literature. When does something change from being commercial fiction to literature? Is it possible for a book to be considered two genres? What are the merits to reading literature vs. commercial fiction? Could Twilight by Stephanie Meyer someday be considered literature? Is there even a definition of literature, or is it a general feeling about a piece that makes the distinction? Another thing I wish I could have brought up is that with art, going back to our discussion that day, art is generally not popular until after the artist has died. People didn't like Picasso in his day. They didn't understand his work. After he died though, his paintings gained more popularity. Is it the same with books? Do books gain more popularity after the author has died? Can there be popular literature books? I ask because the article/excerpt that we read seemed to state that only commercial fiction books can be popular or well liked. One of my favorite books is Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. Do I know whether it's literature or commercial fiction? No, I don't. However, I know that every time I read it, I take something else away from the story rather than Christine and Raoul's love affair. Okay. There are all the questions I still have about that discussion. Hard to believe I could write so many questions.