Why the british are so good at literature/fiction ?

Not to imply other countries don't have /have had amazing writers, but just like people admire Japan for their anime and USA for their animation and culture (like comics) I think it's part of their speciality. I am very impressed by the literary skills of British authors.

From the legendary William shakespeare, J.K Rowling, C.S lewis, Tolkien , Neil Gaiman etc. With classics like Doctor Who, Sherlock Holmes. Of course I Am not talking any genetic advantage rather what has made england such a good place for good authors to strive?

My theory is that their culture is more open to introvert people (as most writers are) than some countries and that the education is far better than many countries (far better than mine that's for sure)

What do you think?

edited 4th Dec '14 11:47:34 AM by RPGLegend

They're not.

There is a first-arriving advantage of sorts in that they were the first English-speaking country and others descend directly or indirectly from them, so for much of history of written English the only English being written was written by Brits and other traditions would require time to diverge from theirs.

But much of the deference we grant the classics of English English literature (like much of the deference we grant the classics of any literature) is undeserved. As I am fond of pointing out, when I did a high-level English literature class in college, the only work we read and all agreed was excellent was Dean Knootz's Phantoms. Works that at least a quarter of the class found less-than-quality included two of Shakespeare's plays.

edited 4th Dec '14 12:04:58 PM by Night

Question: Where are you from?

If you only speak English (Like I do), then English literature wins by default by virtue of being much more accessible than any other country that has been literately active for more than 200 years. An English speaker raised with other English speakers is just not going to be exposed to as many French or Russian works.

I'm honestly not a big fan of most classic English literature (Never liked Shakespeare or Dickens much). Even modern English literature is heavily influenced by some of the classic American authors (Sherlock Homes was heavily influenced by Dupin, a lot of foundational sci-fi was from American authors). They've got some good contemporary writers, but so does the US.

While it's true that England has many fantastic writers, the U.S. has there fair share as well. Nelle Harper Lee, John Steinbeck, Carson McCullers, Mark Twain...the list goes on. I admit I'm not a huge literature buff, but I usually put the U.S. and England on equal standing when it comes to classic novels.

edited 4th Dec '14 4:26:56 PM by RBluefish

I've had to read Macbeth, Great Expectations, and Pride and Prejudice, but I wouldn't say those were in any way “superior” to, say, The Glass Menagerie, Death of a Salesman, and Song of Solomon, which I also had to read. Actually, now that I think of it, I've read more stageplays than novels. Hmm...

England, being an old and venerable monarchy, has long been enriched with high quantities of Narrativium and Literarium. The ancient Engle tribes native to what is now modern Birmingham were the first to harness these latent energies, using their inspirational effects to improve their campfire stories and knob jokes. They channeled the energies into their minds through elaborate rituals, involving stripping naked, painting themselves blue and screaming at the gibbous moon*.

Later in 1827, the Victorian natural philosopher Herbert Hobbs discovered that wearing a top hat and imbibing strong tea thrice a day achieved the same effect much more reliably and for far less effort**. The widespread adoption of this practice among the populace paved the way for England's dominance of global literary culture, and ultimately the world.

*As recorded by Livy in his famous Annals Brittanica.

**Crumpets help catalyze the reaction, but are not strictly necessary.

edited 6th Dec '14 4:50:21 PM by Tungsten74

I'm not a huge literature buff but I know these names, Macbeth, Great Expectations, and Pride And Prejudice as well as William Shakespeare, JK Rowling, CS Lewis, Tolkien, Sherlock Holmes... The other names, not so much. I don't think it's about being open to introvert people or having better education. Literature is an old form of media and the English have an old culture with a monarchy that survived to this day. About the time Shakespeare was writing his plays Japan had an isolation thing going on and the U.S. had a not existing thing going on.

"USA for their animation and culture (like comics)" and you know, Hollywood, the most dominant and recognized film industry in the world.

I wouldn't say that the British are necessarily better than the Americans at literature. Both have had their brilliant works and both have had steaming piles of horse shit.

When I look at my list of favourite authors (also known as "my bookshelves") I see quite a cosmopolitan mix there.

I tend to understand and appreciate British humour more than some American humour, but then again there's some American humour that's utterly hysterical.

I do, however, favour British music/artists/bands over American and British television shows over American (especially Period Pieces) and I think the British portray dystopian worlds better in film than Hollywood does - no idea why I like more British bands/artists than American but I'm putting the blame for my TV/Movie preferences on stupid directors and studio execs in the US who think that the audiences are even stupider than they are or deliberately aim for the Lowest Common Denominator to "increase appeal".

But literature? They both do pretty well.

edited 7th Dec '14 2:43:41 AM by Wolf1066

Given the ratio of the US population to British, the number of excellent authors they produce every few years is still impressive. I attribute it to the resources the British public school system invests in teaching children how to read and write well (as opposed to our schools, who usually just teach the basics).

I think it's because Britain's death/disease/free time ratio was skewed in favor of writing, compared to other countries. Countries like America had less death and disease, and more free time, meaning they could write more, but the backgrounds which the stories can be born from were less memorable or human. Some other countries death and disease ratios outweigh free time, meaning that they would have written some of the best stories on earth, but couldn't because they spent so much time trying not to die or recover from sickness.

Maybe the OP shouldn't have said why are the British so good at fiction but why are they so famous for it. The most Wishbone classic works of literature from one country is England at 15. That's separate from the 4 from Scotland. The second and third most are the United States at 8 and France at 7.