Public domain books are not present in our everyday pop culture because nobody is making a profit from them. So the media ecosystem just doesn’t discuss them.
Modern books speak to modern problems. Some stories are timeless, but sometimes you want a hyper specific scenario.
What? Some of the most well known and highly rated books are in the public domain.
Bible, Sherlock Holmes, Dickens, Dracula, Frankenstein, Gatsby, Jekyll
Nice to see the bible amongst the fiction section where it belongs 😂
All of Shakespeare
Notice this in audiobooks. Librivox does a great job, but they’re volunteers and the quality is sub par. I enjoy old books, public domain … but they are not pushed. Because, as you say… There is no money in it.
Wanna find the bad guy? #FollowTheMoney
You might not be, but I am. I’m currently reading The Count of Monte Cristo, and have read a bunch of other titles from Project Gutenberg over the last few years.
I think I remember seeing that someone was running a group reading of Dracula in one of the vampire communities a while back, so I’m not alone even if I am perhaps in the minority.
Shoutput to https://standardebooks.org/ if you read from Gutenberg and would like a cleaner ebook format.
someone was running a group reading of Dracula in one of the vampire communities a while back
Yep, it’s happening on !vampires@lemmy.zip, click this link to see: Dracula Readthrough
Count of Monte Cristo got some crazy raves here or on tumblr, such that I went and got it from PG. . . . Haven’t, uh, y’know, read it yet but. They say its good.
Not only do “they” say Count of Monte Cristo is good (whoever “they” are), it’s one of the most adapted books out there.
It’s been made into a bunch of movies. My favorite is still the 2002 version, but the French just put one out this year or last.
The ABC soap opera/thriller Revenge is based on it. And it’s so good.
There’s an anime series set in the far future that is also based on it. The art style will take some getting used to, but the story is solid. It’s a closer adaptation than Revenge is, just being a shift from past to future.
I don’t think there’s been a bad adaptation of it. Maybe there has, I’m sure they can’t all be winners, but it’s pretty good… when someone disagrees about which Count of Monte Cristo movie is better, they’re rarely wrong. A lot of them have good points.
I do.
People who read are reading them, it’s just that’s there’s fewer and fewer people reading anything at all.
Anyone can print them so I’m sure someone is trying to make a profit on them. Barnes & Noble has their own store editions of a lot of them and even some non-public domain stuff.
Bible is still the most popular book of all time.
And that’s a huge problem
It’s also the most profitable.
Yeah repackaging and selling the word of their dear leader to cult followers has got to be the oldest scam in the book.
Why would the media spend time discussing something that has been popular for hundreds of years. What new thing do you want them to discuss about Frankenstein?
