30. Literature isn't as "moody" as it used to be

http://www.salon.com/2013/03/21/literature_isnt_as_moody_as_it_used_to_be_partner/

Tom Jacobs writes to the Salon on March 21st about a recent study made on our authors and the chance in their writing style over the past century. He begins the article by explaining how the general reader's idea is essencially wrong- how in spite of their thoughts that the desire of the generation to express themselves has increased recently, this is not reflected in the writings of the century. Jacobs then gives a few statistics of the research, how terms reflecting disgust have decreased over the past twenty years and how that may reflect a socially liberal society and generationy, at least on issues such as gay marriage. The author explains that fear, on the other hand, has increased greatly, probably due to recent occurances in the 21st century. He gives some more parallels of what was going on with society and the terms used by authors of the time and finally ends the author by comparing language in English and American literary works and how it reflects society.

Jacobs intentions with this article is to show how literature has reflected a society which is not so focused on expressing their feelings. He achieves his goal through the many parallels and statistic he gives.