Current Events > You know how there are music revivals? They should do the same with books..

(+) Yeah! (+)

Like garage rock revival and post punk revival, there needs to be classic literature revival books. Books written with beautiful and elegant prose like they used to do in the 19th century and earlier. Modern books by and large have good stories, but crappy prose tbh.
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Compare popular writers like Dan Brown, James Patterson, John Grisham, etc. to say, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens and Mark Twain. The prose in the latters work is absolutely stunning in comparison.
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Oh look, another topic about goggalor jerking himself off about prose. New and exciting.
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Who posted?
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_Goggalor_ posted...

Compare popular writers like Dan Brown, James Patterson, John Grisham, etc. to say, Ayn Rand, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens and Mark Twain. The prose in the latters work is absolutely stunning in comparison.

Agreed
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John_Galt posted...

_Goggalor_ posted...

Compare popular writers like Dan Brown, James Patterson, John Grisham, etc. to say, Ayn Rand, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens and Mark Twain. The prose in the latters work is absolutely stunning in comparison.

Agreed

Never read anything by Rand. Not because trolls call her edgy and stupid, just not necessarily my cup of tea. I prefer the philosophy of Nietzsche and Plato.
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I mean, the main difference is in who consumes written materials now a days. It isn't something for a small group of people any more. One thing people often forget is that even as the printing press made writing more easily accessible to common people, gender (and to a lesser extent class) differences in schooling meant that the overall rates of literacy in, say, 1850s England were still very low compared to what we see today. Like, only a little over half of people were literate (who knows how many actually wanted to read books for fun)
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go read some william h gass if you want good prose
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I'm not trying to be smug, either. I just fell in love with classic lit a long time ago and I genuinely enjoy colorful, descriptive language when I read.
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Balrog0 posted...

I mean, the main difference is in who consumes written materials now a days. It isn't something for a small group of people any more. One thing people often forget is that even as the printing press made writing more easily accessible to common people, gender (and to a lesser extent class) differences in schooling meant that the overall rates of literacy in, say, 1850s England were still very low compared to what we see today. Like, only a little over half of people were literate (who knows how many actually wanted to read books for fun)

True. It was definitely something for the more uppercrust, scholarly man during the height of those writers influence.
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Balrog0 posted...

go read some william h gass if you want good prose

I might have to check him out. Favorite work of his?
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If you really like prose per se, and don't care so much about story, I'd start with On Being Blue
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Balrog0 posted...

If you really like prose per se, and don't care so much about story, I'd start with On Being Blue

Story is important too imo. That's why I love Poe. Perfect combination of intriguing stories and elegant prose. I'll give On Being Blue a shot though, sounds interesting.
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hmm, I think you'd be better off with one of his novels if you care about story too. On Being Blue is a very abstract piece, not much to it really except some autobiographical snippets

but I really love OBB anyway so yeah
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Lmao Ayn Rand has horrible prose
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Paper_Okami posted...

Lmao Ayn Rand has horrible prose

Pray tell, what is terrible about it? I have no loyalty to her so you can be blunt.
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Pride & Prejudice & Zombies lol
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Smashingpmkns posted...

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies lol

Is it written in classical style? I thought it was just conceptually a modern take on a classic story.
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