In business it is a common practice to read biographies to learn how other successful people approached their challenges and “rose to the top.” Is it possible to do the same with literature? Can you read all the great books of the past and learn how to write one yourself? If you read every Puschart Prize winner are you then guaranteed to win the prize yourself?

Of course, there are no guarantees. John Lennon once quipped that life is what happens to you while making other plans. There have been many great writers who never won the most coveted awards despite their best efforts. There are other winners who had no intention of being a writer, but life led in that direction. Many writers end up on their deathbeds with a hundred books of mediocre skill wearing their name on the cover while others write one great work of art and nothing else. How does “greatness” arrive?

How Literary Greatness Arrives

First, we must recognize that greatness is a perceived value, not an actual one. One man likes Charles Dickens and another man doesn’t. Can you measure “greatness” by aggregation? If 200,000 book readers agree that Great Expectations is a world class novel, is it? Or can we measure greatness by some objective, quantifiable data?

While measures of worth are to a large degree subjective, I do believe there are some objective measurements that we can look at to determine literary worth. Prizes and awards are simply a judgment in the minds of those who award the prizes. But the time value of greatness is at least as valuable as the time value of money. As any accountant knows, invest your money in a solid vehicle with above-average earnings during the course of your lifetime and you can retire with a comfortable nest egg. But is there a “greatness” nest egg resting somewhere?

Literary value comes as a subjective lens with a nonmovable handle and frame. Using a magnifying glass as metaphor, what you see through the glass is what you possess in your own soul. The hardware of the experience, however, is built into the instrument by generally accepted artistic principles (GAAP). Accountants, once again, are familiar with GAAP, which stands for something completely different for the numbers guys. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles are the widely recognized unwritten rules that govern how business bookkeeping is done so that money is handled properly and commercial paper is used to turn more profit.

Literary greatness comes as a result of similar principles. The study of those who have succeeded, and failed. Hard work, grit and sweat, over one’s own work. A dash of patience. And the smile of the greatness gods. It all adds up to a fanciful synchronicity.

Why You Should Read Greatly If You Expect To Write Great Things

Authors and other literary artists would do themselves well to read. Reading what others have written, both the good and the bad, trains us to see our own weaknesses. If you cannot judge good literature from bad then it is likely that you will not produce good literature. Likely, not impossible. The first “great” literary artist had no mentors so there is a level of flexibility in the principles.

Still, reading is as much an avocation of writing and the writer who doesn’t read and read widely is likely as not to produce words fit for naught but the refrigerator door. And while reading the winners of coveted prizes doesn’t guarantee a blue ribbon in return, it never hurts.