I was recently listening a podcast from a guy specializing in 19th century fantastic, British literature. At one point he mentions Jules Verne and how he isn’t very well known in the English speaking world.
On the flip side, he talks a lot about H.G. Wells.
Being from a Scandinavian country, it’s the opposite here. Jules Verne is very well known but I barely knew about H.G. Wells before this podcast.
What do you think?
I suspect the podcaster is a dip and doesn’t really know what he’s talking about. I have good reason to believe, based on what you’ve said, that he’s speaking from personal knowledge and mistaking that for everybody’s general knowledge. I suspect he’s some millennial or Gen Zer who is more familiar with contemporary works and lacking an education in classical literature. For that reason, his knowledge of contemporary works appears to be overshadowing his knowledge of classical literature, and he arrogantly believes everyone else has his same knowledge base.
He is incorrect.
But it’s nice to know that at least you still have the capacity for critical thinking and to question your sources. Hold onto that. It is one of the most valuable life skills a person can have.