Prose is indeed a vehicle for great expression. It has the lyricism of poetry but a greater freedom in regard to style.
Prose grows rapidly, but it's often disguised as poetry. This can sometimes be annoying.
Style is terribly important with poetry, I think; but a good prose style is preferable to a bad one. And then there is dialogue.
Dialogue must not be mechanical, or contrived. Nor can a novel be entirely based on it; for this, one should use plays.
Plays on words are always fun. I welcome them wherever I can find them.
Them one can find in the 'Kant we talk' thread. Oh, what a sad thing, advertisement that requires one to break the rules of the English language!
Language is a fascinating thing, though it has rules, when they are broken it can still be understandable. I promise not to end on 'them' again.
Again, going back to novels based on dialogue (or do they become plays), didn't Ivy Compton-Burnett do that? She was another of those people who my father called "writers' writers" because she did "interesting things" and won acclaim, even if they were unreadable.
Unreadable writing, who needs it? Wasn't it Frank Zappa who said that rock journalism was done by people who can't write, from interviews of people who can't speak, written for people who can't read?
Read that quote once. At least rock journalism has some sense of shame, which can't be said for tabloids.
Tabloids exploit the foibles of the famous, sensationalize the news, and pander to their voyeuristic and gullible readers.
Readers Awake! Salute the happy morn....I think that is a cover version of Wachet Auf, a German hymn.
Hymn is suitable for today, being Sunday (but see my quote below). I have just been for a jolly walk round a golf course in perfect weather, sunny, blowy,warm, fleecy clouds - with my sons (playing) and a couple of pals - very exhilarating!
Hymn practice, I remember, took place every morning in my primary school. I wonder why they attached such importance to infants' caterwauling.
(Now the next person must have exhilarating and caterwauling in their posting!)
(Good idea!)
Exhilharating caterwauling is an unusual idea, but an idea held by quite a few. Primal scream sessions are apparently popular.
Popular they are, especially in Totnes, which specialises in New Age therapies. As I get older, I think they all do the same thing, which is to tap into the placebo effect.
Effecting change can be difficult to do, but if the change is warranted, it must be done!
Done and done; that's my article finished. Now, forty Beck fans can delight in reading it.
It is great to feel something is complete and you can move on to the next interesting thing, isn't it? My Hong Kong guide is complete now, just a few minor things needed editing, and I look forward to seeing it in print.
