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Classical and Cryptic Writings
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George
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Apr 29, 2021 06:18AM
Is the classical and sometimes cryptic style of Victorian novelists with its ubiquitous use of double negatives unsuitable for the reader of today?
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Writing has changed a lot since that time. I wouldn't say unsuitable, but I think many people would struggle. I have trouble with one of our best loved authors. She's not Victorian, but Jane Austen is difficult to read, I find. Passive voice ('the carriage was started to be looked for.' Persuasion.) Lots of telling, very long sentences ( one well over 100 words I counted in Persuasion) and long paragraphs.It's a matter of style.and fashion. In the past, reams of description were de rigeur. Look at Dickens. I remember being told how brilliant he was ar description.
One cannot, or better put, probably should not, apply today's preferred and more popular writing, linguistic, and/or narrative techniques utilized by authors today to those of the 19th. century.For example:
Two 19th. century classics which I have enjoyed reading and, in my opinion, have held up well are Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.
On the other hand, I found Moby Dick by Herman Melville to be tedious and often extremely boring. The excruciatingly detailed descriptions of whale hunting techniques and whales themselves could have been minimized or eliminated altogether, allowing an otherwise intriguing and interesting story to be published at half its actual length.
V.M. wrote: "Writing has changed a lot since that time. I wouldn't say unsuitable, but I think many people would struggle. I have trouble with one of our best loved authors. She's not Victorian, but Jane Austen..."Yes, more descriptive as you say. Action seems to be de rigeur at the present.
Jim wrote: "One cannot, or better put, probably should not, apply today's preferred and more popular writing, linguistic, and/or narrative techniques utilized by authors today to those of the 19th. century.F..." Hmm.... maybe some books translate their content to film better as in Moby Dick.
