Looking forward to reading this! It was about this time a few years back that I enjoyed reading another text in that publication about English style and how it's changed over time: “The Elements of Scientific Style” by Étienne Fortier-Dubois. It also addresses Plain English and is worth reading.
Thanks for this! I can and do write like hemingway, too. Sometimes. Also, I do find Victorian prose far too entangled. Sometimes. AND... (even oxford comma is missing here!) I find short sentences slightly patronising. Sometimes. As if the reader could not cope or remain concentrated on the piece of writing he/she has come across on the book he/she has borrowed from the library or has perhaps just bought on the way to meet up with a friend for a drink after work or ... 😉
Somehow this reminded me of Virginia Tufte's book Artful Sentences (Virginia was the mother of Edward, in case you're wondering): https://amzn.to/4ojDikE
One might fruitfully explore this direction further in at least two ways. First, what are the technological and sociological correlates of plainness in style? Do writers aiming at a more working-class audience write more plainly— or less? Does the availability of audiobooks as a potential revenue stream nudge authors to write more speech-like prose, i.e. in the CS Lewis rather than the Samuel Johnson style?
Second, how does this parallel trends in other arts over the last five centuries? What if anything can we learn from it about Baroque versus Classical music, say, or about 19th vs 20th century architectural styles? Are there common threads in how human psychology reacts to a plainer delivery of a sense-impression versus one that requires more work, or more specialized intellectual pre-training, to process and appreciate?
I have just taken out a print subscription! Looks like a wonderful publication. I am surprised to see you sceptical with a 'k'.
Typo :/
Looking forward to reading this! It was about this time a few years back that I enjoyed reading another text in that publication about English style and how it's changed over time: “The Elements of Scientific Style” by Étienne Fortier-Dubois. It also addresses Plain English and is worth reading.
Thanks for this! I can and do write like hemingway, too. Sometimes. Also, I do find Victorian prose far too entangled. Sometimes. AND... (even oxford comma is missing here!) I find short sentences slightly patronising. Sometimes. As if the reader could not cope or remain concentrated on the piece of writing he/she has come across on the book he/she has borrowed from the library or has perhaps just bought on the way to meet up with a friend for a drink after work or ... 😉
I hope you have a long and complicated sentence in there at some point.
ofc :)
Somehow this reminded me of Virginia Tufte's book Artful Sentences (Virginia was the mother of Edward, in case you're wondering): https://amzn.to/4ojDikE
I love that book!!
One might fruitfully explore this direction further in at least two ways. First, what are the technological and sociological correlates of plainness in style? Do writers aiming at a more working-class audience write more plainly— or less? Does the availability of audiobooks as a potential revenue stream nudge authors to write more speech-like prose, i.e. in the CS Lewis rather than the Samuel Johnson style?
Second, how does this parallel trends in other arts over the last five centuries? What if anything can we learn from it about Baroque versus Classical music, say, or about 19th vs 20th century architectural styles? Are there common threads in how human psychology reacts to a plainer delivery of a sense-impression versus one that requires more work, or more specialized intellectual pre-training, to process and appreciate?