The Wilbur Smith Discussion Forums

I realized how angry I get when other people completely bad mouth Wilbur Smith today. We had a sub for English and he was commenting on the quality of Shakespeare and how there are no authors like that nowadays. That was a fair point and I guess I accepted that...but then!! He says "Not like the "authors" we have today like Bryce Courtenay, a couple of others and Wilbur Smith..." Kate and I just gasped and looked at each other!!! Then the three of us got caught up in an argument over how Wilbur Smith novels not only educate but also entertain people of all ages (ok, mainly teens upwards ), and he still wouldn't listen. I tried to explain that there was so much variety, such as Ancient Egypt and 16th (?) century Britain and Africa etc but he just laughed and said that WS was nothing more than an 'adult comic book writer' who got his ideas from some other author who I can't remember...

I was a little surprised at my instinct to turn my teacher into a WS lover and realized I may be just a little obsessed. Has anyone else had to stick up for WS? I felt like it was my duty as an avid member of this forum!

Please don't tell me I'm crazy

No, nefie, you're not crazy. Yes I've stuck up for WS's novels but it never worried me much if some one else didn't like them. We are all entitled to our opinions. Your sub needs to be a bit careful if he is going to criticize novels he has more than likely never read. WS is an entertainer and so was Shakespeare - different times, different audiences, who cares - there's room for all of them. By the way, I heard some where that Shakespeare was accused of getting his ideas from some other author also! (Don't quote me on that - do some research first.) (Personally, I don't know what the fuss is about re old 'Willy Wag a dagger' - he's over rated IMO.)

Instead of criticizing WS the sub should have been praising you for reading books - there's not many kids your age who do.

I'll be interested to see if Nefer has anything to say about your sub teacher.

I must agree Im very protective of all my favourite writers , I would definitely duel for their honour

he just laughed and said that WS was nothing more than an 'adult comic book writer'

I know exactly how you feel because i have experienced the same thing all too recently

The worse thing that can happen to anyone that puts something out there (a book, a movie or whatever) is indifference. If it stirs an emotion, positive or negative it is better than nothing. In this particular case I think the teacher was criticizing originality more than anything else. It is difficult to find original things, everybody copies or borrows from somebody else and tries to incorporate those ideas in his/her own stile. Examples:
Dumbledore from “Harry Potter” was ‘loosely’ based on Gandalf from “The Lord of the Rings”. Terry Brooks “Sannara” series is a carbon copy of “LOTR”.

One of WS favorite authors is C. S. Forester. There is no question that the influence for the nautical scenes and battles of “Birds of Prey” and “Monsoon” comes from Forester’s “Horatio Hornblower” series.

I still think nobody describes Africa like Wilbur, but the influences are there and they are obvious.

I don't defend Wilbur Smith at all, nope not me, never![/sarcasm]


PS - I kinda think I scared him/her away (oops!)

i always stand up for wilbur! about a year ago i tried to get my girlfirend into him, giving her River God, but she did not like it, so i dumped her!

nah only joking, there were other reasons too

But the not liking Wilbur was the clincher, right John?

And as for the sub - stupid to get into an argument with students about anything. Dude needs to be taught some sense!

As for defending Wilbur, I always do

Nefer wrote:But the not liking Wilbur was the clincher, right John?

Of course! as soon as she handed me back River God and slagged it off, i said well thats it i'm afraid. This clearly isn't working!

haha so I am not the only one??!! Thanks guys

Love your opinions on the topic! hehe

Well it seems the sub didn't listen to your arguments. And as Ada said everyone is entitled to their opinions.

Perhaps sometime in the future kids will be reading WS books alongside Shakespeare books!

now that would be cool!

The meticulous care with which he brings out finer details makes you gasp. Wilbur smiths each novel is a source of great information. Either it be history, some technical stuff, relationships, business or archeology what ever it is you will learn a lot.

I would certainly defend wilbur smith on any occation. This is one difference I find with the authors of other novels and wilbur smiths! He does a lot of research.

Perhaps sometime in the future kids will be reading WS books alongside Shakespeare books!

If our English assignment was on WS, I would pay a lot more attention!!!

Can you imagine it?

Oh yes...yes I could...especially with out current assignment which requires us to write a short story about a gap in the play. I want to write a short story on a WS book!!

Know this is off topic but what are you planning to write on? What play are you doing?

I just finished it, we had to write a short story on The Taming Of The Shrew, and set it in the future, while also challenging a discourse. It was strange, but I guess fun to write.

Sounds like a fun and interesting assignment!

Well you and Kate are good wrtiers (fan fic anyone, hmm?) so I'm sure you'll ace the assignment, as boring as it sounds to me!