Can you explain, in your own words, what makes a story good?

Do your homework on your own

>>9649970
helpful

>>9649960
the oddysey sucks, the only reason anyone reads it is because a bunch of other people did and referenced it, a lot like the bible

>>9649960

"Good" is a very subjective descriptor. The best literary critics don't really worry about "good or bad" and instead explore and analyze a work for what it is. Some works of literature survive better than others because they provide more insightful criticism than others. People will always read them because they always seem to live with us. They always seem new in a way. "Plebian trash" might be entertaining, and even deal with "deep themes," but if they offer nothing really provocative they will be forgotten. It's not so much that it's "trash" but that it's just shallow and so people will move on from it.

Homer and YA are bad examples because they come from vastly different cultures and eras in history. You'd better compare a contemporary Western novel to Harry Potter and go from there.
The themes are obviously a big part of it. If Harry Potter had no magic, no dragons and swords, I'm sure it'd be seen in a very different light. Anything fantastic is seen as trashy because fantasy has a long history of being featured in pulp. You can't view any art outside the very specific, unique, complicated context it stems from.
While I'm not saying Harry Potter is a good book, that's an opinion I haven't formed entirely on my own. If art existed in a vacuum, there wouldn't be any criteria to divide it into good or bad, deep or superficial, smart or dumb. All those labels are subjective, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. This whole pleb vs. non-pleb thing /lit/ got going on is no basis for a conscious, critical approach to the consumption of art.

>>9649977
So work that is provocative or deals with some new insight on life/religion/etc is considered to be more lasting than pulp?

>>9649978
The art is considered relative to what is poorly done and what is well done. The fantastic nature of fantasy pulp is just a medium, and not to be used as a crutch when it comes to displaying the themes and message meant for the reader?

>>9649960

>reading for plot
>>2017

>>9650060
What do you read for?