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2codyed
Russell Kirk's The Conservative Mind is the first one that comes to mind.
Kirk is the man, no denying that. But, man, he can put me to sleep faster than a handful of Ambien.
Kirk is the man, no denying that. But, man, he can put me to sleep faster than a handful of Ambien.
5ben_a
If only it were half the length of the US Constitution perhaps I could have finished it!
I have skimmed works by John Kekes, a rarity in contemporary academic philosophy in that he writes in explicit support of a conservative program, and felt his writing suffered from the strong impression of his thumb on the scale.
I have skimmed works by John Kekes, a rarity in contemporary academic philosophy in that he writes in explicit support of a conservative program, and felt his writing suffered from the strong impression of his thumb on the scale.
6Carnophile
At her best, Ayn Rand could write prose as well as anyone else in the English language in the 20th century. (And it was her second language!)
But when her characters go off on 60-page radio speeches...Dear God!! I become embarrassed on her behalf just reading it. It's really wince-inducing.
But when her characters go off on 60-page radio speeches...Dear God!! I become embarrassed on her behalf just reading it. It's really wince-inducing.
8Arctic-Stranger
Oh pluh--leeze.
The Fountainhead was a powerful book for me, but NOT because of the prose. More like, in spite of the prose and while I was truly fascinated by Atlas Shrugged, I could never get past page 300 or so, because those infernal speeches and her basic speechifying were like nails on a chalkboard.
The Fountainhead was a powerful book for me, but NOT because of the prose. More like, in spite of the prose and while I was truly fascinated by Atlas Shrugged, I could never get past page 300 or so, because those infernal speeches and her basic speechifying were like nails on a chalkboard.
10Arctic-Stranger
Which to be honest was a shame, because they could have been really good novels.
12Carnophile
> 8 Arctic, dig out either tome (Atlas or Fountain)and find a description of a setting: a cityscape, a drive through a forest, something like that. Her prose could be amazing, in my not particularly humble opinion.
As an example, consider the opening of the Fountainhead, when Roark is diving off the rocks. An excerpt from the second paragraph:
The lake lay far below him. A frozen explosion of granite burst in flight to the sky over motionless water. The water seemed immovable, the stone--flowing. The stone had the stillness of one brief moment in battle when thrust meets thrust and the currents are held in a pause more dynamic than motion. The stone glowed, wet with sunrays.
I love the notion of the water seeming immovable and the stone flowing. Also, the last phrase, suggesting the rock is drenched with light. Seriously, are you umimpressed by this prose? No criticism if you're not, I'm just interested.
As an example, consider the opening of the Fountainhead, when Roark is diving off the rocks. An excerpt from the second paragraph:
The lake lay far below him. A frozen explosion of granite burst in flight to the sky over motionless water. The water seemed immovable, the stone--flowing. The stone had the stillness of one brief moment in battle when thrust meets thrust and the currents are held in a pause more dynamic than motion. The stone glowed, wet with sunrays.
I love the notion of the water seeming immovable and the stone flowing. Also, the last phrase, suggesting the rock is drenched with light. Seriously, are you umimpressed by this prose? No criticism if you're not, I'm just interested.
13Arctic-Stranger
Well that is what is so galling about her writing. She is capable of extremely good writing. That opening scene of The Fountainhead is what piqued my interest in her work. But...as others have pointed out, the long speeches, etc, and the fact that she has not a romantic bone in her body, yet tried to write love scenes....yeech.
16Carnophile
Far it be from me to take issue with someone who says such nice things about me!
But I really do admire the writing in that passage. I guess we just disagree. E.g., What's a "frozen explosion?" How does frozen granite explode? Well, a photograph of an explosion would be a frozen explosion. Y’know, a still image of an explosion. I do agree about the hyphen, though; I’d been wondering about that myself. But that’s rather minor.
If you have writers in mind who you think write better prose, let me know. I’m going to solicit your opinion on that with a message to your profile page so we don’t go too far off topic here.
But I really do admire the writing in that passage. I guess we just disagree. E.g., What's a "frozen explosion?" How does frozen granite explode? Well, a photograph of an explosion would be a frozen explosion. Y’know, a still image of an explosion. I do agree about the hyphen, though; I’d been wondering about that myself. But that’s rather minor.
If you have writers in mind who you think write better prose, let me know. I’m going to solicit your opinion on that with a message to your profile page so we don’t go too far off topic here.
19Carnophile
> 17. Got it; thanks!
22enevada
#14: Who needs the Iowa workshop? Prospective writes should save their money and just read Deniro's essay. Commit it to memory, even. We'd all be better off.
24Arctic-Stranger
Actually I did a class on Shakespeare
Where we practiced talking in iambic
pentameter and found it was easy
to do if you gave it a little thought.
The teacher said that most people do talk
with a sense of rhythm quite naturally.
NOT Shakespeare, but natural iambic pentemeter.
Where we practiced talking in iambic
pentameter and found it was easy
to do if you gave it a little thought.
The teacher said that most people do talk
with a sense of rhythm quite naturally.
NOT Shakespeare, but natural iambic pentemeter.
25Carnophile
Escapism uber alles!
We don't have to choose between realism and larger-than-life fiction, thank goodness. But if we had to, I'd be all for the larger-than-life, baby.
God-backed Nazi-fighting archeologists.
Acid-bleeding aliens that lay eggs in astronauts' stomachs.
Serial killers who'll eat your liver with a nice Chianti.
SF universes where the bad guys always wear black and walk around with air-conditioner-sounding breathing apparatus.
Discount-bin hit men who discuss the merits of European vs. US McDonalds' while carrying out a hit.
Why are these examples all movies instead of books? Because Hollywood, for all its faults, has no hesitation about going with the audacious concept, God bless 'em.
And the winner is...
The movie that starts with Earth being blown up by aliens, and builds to a climax from that. (That would be Titan AE, for those of you who missed it).
This is why I love Stephenson. In Quicksilver, a woman has to escape from a burning building while giving birth, as in, while the baby is um, halfway out. You may say "Dear Lord!" but you won't fall asleep!
We don't have to choose between realism and larger-than-life fiction, thank goodness. But if we had to, I'd be all for the larger-than-life, baby.
God-backed Nazi-fighting archeologists.
Acid-bleeding aliens that lay eggs in astronauts' stomachs.
Serial killers who'll eat your liver with a nice Chianti.
SF universes where the bad guys always wear black and walk around with air-conditioner-sounding breathing apparatus.
Discount-bin hit men who discuss the merits of European vs. US McDonalds' while carrying out a hit.
Why are these examples all movies instead of books? Because Hollywood, for all its faults, has no hesitation about going with the audacious concept, God bless 'em.
And the winner is...
The movie that starts with Earth being blown up by aliens, and builds to a climax from that. (That would be Titan AE, for those of you who missed it).
This is why I love Stephenson. In Quicksilver, a woman has to escape from a burning building while giving birth, as in, while the baby is um, halfway out. You may say "Dear Lord!" but you won't fall asleep!
27Carnophile
deniro - "...when Hollywood tries to get serious, it does a lousy job."
Tell me about it! They think that "serious" means dour, leftish, and 250 minutes long.
Tell me about it! They think that "serious" means dour, leftish, and 250 minutes long.
