I like how this thread turned into being all about Dan Brown. The man must have done something right to have all of you bring him up as the first choice in a discussion like this..

I hope it's obvious to people here his stuff is POPPY, they're built like crimis ffs ;) reading it tells me it's not meant to be some super intelligent uber world shaking thing, but uses some important and controversial ideas to create a very interesting and entertaining story. This sort of story brings more of a kick to me than reading the typical kind of crimi, where some random person is just murdered and then you end up finding the murderer.

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The question was what great literature in general is. >>2 definitely got it right. Of course the implication that people are selective and will not prefer certain contexts... GREAT literature can be a made context in which many people can think and of which many people can debate. This might happen while it's contemporary, or the work will become interesting and relevant at a later point in history. You never know what the future generations will think as the great literature of this day and age.