It's all good

[pjthompson]

I hate mannered prose. Every time I read some oh-so-overly-tinkered-and-twisty piece of writing I think, "You better show me some Fine to make me wend my way through all this clap-trappity stuff." Often this kind of prose is labeled "poetic," which it most certainly is not. Often, it's pretentious. Sometimes I find myself reading one of these mannered stories or books and they actually do show enough Fine that I finish it. I might even enjoy it in the end. Most times, if I don't see sufficient evidence of Fine soon enough, it gets added to the recycling pile.

Yet I try to always remind myself that one person's pretentious clap-trappity stuff is another person's "poetic," and another person's "poetic" is yet another person's "pedestrian," and so on and so forth, and I think, "It's all good." Because it is all good, even when it ain't, only some people always have to be thinking their way is the only way, their taste the only Important Taste.

The one thing I've noticed about taste in literary manners is that it often has some of the same characteristics as religious mania: "Our way of worship is infinitely superior to all others and anyone who appreciates what we consider low brow are knuckle-draggers. When the Literary Armageddon comes"—(the passage of time and the sorting out of reputations after everyone here and now are dead)—"we will be proved Right and Virtuous, and all those other sinners will be laughed at and shunted to the Lower Realms of Literary Hell."

Even when people nod and say, "Sure, it's all good, and no one taste is superior to another," what they're often thinking is: But in my case, it really is superior. I am not immune from this effect. I just try to remind myself on a regular basis that nothing I think is the Ultimate Last Word Indisputable Fact on anything. I remind myself how often works considered low brow and pandering to the masses in ages past are now regarded as masterworks, while those thought the pinnacle of literary achievement in their times have fallen into utter obscurity.

Reputation is a funny thing. It changes over time like a living organism, it falls into the pit of doom only to find redemption and a second chance, sometimes falls between the cracks and deserves to, other times falls when it should have risen...But there's that word "should" again. Opinion. Which is as slippery and ever-changing as Reputation, it's sometimes bastard child.

Comments

[geniusofevil.livejournal.com]

How come you didn't post an example of said prose? I want to judge it too!

[pjthompson]

Because I still retain distant and miniscule hopes for being published some day.

[goebooklist.livejournal.com]

As do I

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

My favorite answer to literary snobs (and reverse snobs, too) is the thing that Peter Schickele used to say at the beginning of "Schickele Mix" (a program about music). He quoted Duke Ellington, who said, "If it sounds good, it is good." If you like it, you like it.

People can be real snobs about music too, have you noticed? If you like Britney Spears or something, they laugh at you, or if you like country & western music.... but on the other hand, those folks can be snobs too and make fun of people who like opera or whatever.

So yeah. I think it's okay to like what you like. And even within your own personal set of standards, you don't always have to like only top-flight stuff. Oh, oh, and also? It's okay to change your mind or opinion.

[pjthompson]

"If it sounds good, it is good." If you like it, you like it.

Exactly. God, how boring would it be if we were all alike?

People can be real snobs about music too, have you noticed?

As bad as with literary style! In both directions, as you say. I guess it's a tribal instinct or something, but it really baffles me. Seems like a horrible waste of energy.

Oh, oh, and also? It's okay to change your mind or opinion.

Yes, thanks be. Some things I used to love in my twenties kind of leave me cold now. I wouldn't want to be stuck and unable to change.

[frigg.livejournal.com]

*nods*
I've found that prose is where most people differ. I have friends whose book taste is almost identical to mine and yet we can wildly disagree on prose. Pretentious and mind-numbing slow to me, is beautiful and languid to another, and what I think is clever and stylistic is stilted to others. :)

[pjthompson]

I've found that prose is where most people differ.

If people can find something to differ on, they always seem to go for it. :-) One man's meat is another man's fish fillet...

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

I never thought of the religion comparison, but now that you mention it, you're pretty dead-on.

[pjthompson]

I think that kind of mania happens whenever people are passionate about something. The good side is that they're passionate, the downside is that it often leads to this feeling of superiority. Our passions can lead us to work hard and channel our energy, organize ourselves, but there's this other aspect that always has to be watched out for, that wants to be proving that "my tribe is better than your tribe."