A Defence of Email: The Literary Future
So modern communication is killing the literary art form, eh (I heard someone say it on Radio Four)? You think that email has ruined the handwritten letter and text message abbreviations are destroying our wonderful language?
It hasn’t.
The internet simply facilitates a change in values – people might be writing more emails than letters and abbreviating their words but they’re writing and reading. People are still ensuring that content is fantastic, otherwise why would they still be writing to each other? If you write on my Facebook wall and it’s interesting, I’ll reply. I might text you, or email or DM you through twitter – but I’ll get back to you.
People that claim that the internet is killing the literary form are risking looking antiquated. What is important is the content, not the handwritten nature or syncopated prose – would we have read Fitzgerald had the story been dull? No. We should embrace new mediums and try and encourage the next generation to remember traditional methods, but to realise that the literary art form evolves. We no longer read folios, and our grand children probably won’t read books. I mean, we’re already buying e-books and reading books on iPods and Amazon’s Kindle.
We’re already seeing a new breed of authors – just check out Richard Galbraith’s blog!