“In 1929, the readers of the Manchester Guardian were asked to opine on the ‘novelists who may be read in 2029.’ Sitting at the top of this century-hence summit of popularity was John Galsworthy. Granted, he has his partisans, and there are still some years to go, but he’s hardly the thing, even the Penguin Classic thing, that one sees clutched on the morning F train. […] Which raises the question: Is there any way of knowing which of today’s books will last beyond a generation of readers, which will avoid being relegated to winsome curios or turgid pieces of historical sociology? Are there any discernible patterns? And why is it so difficult to predict literary futures?” -Why is Literary Fame so Unpredictable? by Tom Vanderbilt
View Separately

“In 1929, the readers of the Manchester Guardian were asked to opine on the ‘novelists who may be read in 2029.’ Sitting at the top of this century-hence summit of popularity was John Galsworthy. Granted, he has his partisans, and there are still some years to go, but he’s hardly the thing, even the Penguin Classic thing, that one sees clutched on the morning F train. […] Which raises the question: Is there any way of knowing which of today’s books will last beyond a generation of readers, which will avoid being relegated to winsome curios or turgid pieces of historical sociology? Are there any discernible patterns? And why is it so difficult to predict literary futures?” -Why is Literary Fame so Unpredictable? by Tom Vanderbilt