wordy authors (was: Re: [geeks] okay. )

[dave at cca.org]

david at cantrell.org.uk writes:

>We had to read As I Lay Dying at school.  Ugh.  Surely I can't be the
>only one to think it a waste of good paper?  I never finished reading it*,
>which is very rare indeed.  In fact, the only other book on my shelves
>I never finished reading is Mein Kampf, and for the same reason - the
>author showed no ability to write.

I stopped halfway through volume three of Gibbon's "Decline and Fall
of The Roman Empire", not because it was bad or slow or anything,
but because it assumed a general familiarity with Roman history
that I did not at that point possess. I decided that I was going
to have to come back to it after reading some more general Roman history
books. (And now that I do have a decent grasp of Roman history, I've
lost interest in that period. Hmm. I'll get back to it some day.)

I dropped Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" halfway though, because I just
had no interest whatsoever in any of the characters, or their problems.
I only like late Tolstoy, when he became a religious fanatic. Then he
started talking about interesting issues. (Oh, and his "Sebastopol
Sketches" is of immense historic interest.)

Similar thing with Dosteyovsky. Crime and Punishment: arrogent prick
kills an mean old lady because he's desperately poor. Feels guilty
about it. Ok. GOT IT. Can we skip the 500 pages of commentary?
But his first book, "Poor People", is brilliant, moving, and CONCISE.

On the other hand, Kafka's long drawn-out stuff, I like. Don't have an
explanation for that.

I think the only writer I can't criticize *anything* by is Calvino.
He could do no wrong.

------ David Fischer ------- dave at cca.org ------- http://www.cca.org ------
-------- "I prefer the ridiculous to the sublime." - James Chance ---------