Friday, August 26, 2005
yellow pills
Like most things, I like my literature to be difficult. The tiny pulse I feel when reading something again and again--meaning is always melodic to me--gives me the sensation of figuring out a code. Flipping through books today, and having some thrown my way (I could list them, but refuse to give these authors free marketing), it's become a trend in mainstream publishing to simplify the prose and experiment with structure/form. Of course this goes back to the early 20th century (if you want to talk about the modern novel and shit like that), so it doesn't strike me as particularly original ('All minds quote'--Ralph Waldo Emerson). But, my beef is, why don't the big publishing houses or agents or you encourage future writers (my 6 year old nephew being one of them) to write more--thicken the sentences, make the paragraphs and stories weightier. I read some of this McSweeney's stuff like I do billboards. And. Writing. Like. Hemingway. Does. not. make. it. any. better.
PS FUCK HEMINGWAY.
PSS I keep thinking, wouldn't it be great to read a well-written 'black' novel about Harlem, now? And yes, I know its not necessary (hip-hop records are the new literature) but I think how interesting it would be. Juelz Santana meets Ralph Ellison or something.
thats it.
(all this began when I realized I couldn't finish this story I'm working on tonight cause I ran out of coffee. shitshitshit)
