Embarrassing.
>>24792248>ShakespeareNot prose.>two women and one is a literal whoAt least they didn't try to pass off any non-Europeans.
Haven't you read Tolstoy? Greatness is bunk
>>24792261why in the fuck would i read some translated garbage when i can read the works of geniuses in my own language
>>24792248>Browne>Carlyle>MelvilleWas that too hard?
It's Joyce. This is not up for debate.
>>24792295I've already read those.
>Mantelliterally WHO
kafka even with his panic attacks mid sentence has better prose than them folks
>>24792335>english only thread>some kraut jew faggotgtfo, dumbshit
>all the people ITT trashing Samuel JohnsonFools, all of you. Go read The Rambler.
>>24792340it's Ms Mantel that is the obvious focus of this thread. nobody disputes that Johnson was a master of the english language.
>>24792335Kafka‘s prose in German is abysmal.
Hilary Mantel writes circles around Joyce
I'm really not sure what constitutes good prose style. There's flowery language and precision of thought and description, ease with metaphor... but those don't matter if the writer doesn't have the artistic vision to cast a light on the right things in the right way. In music for instance there are definitely guys who can't shred up and down the neck better than anyone, and then there are guys who can't but can still write great music. Who is the better stylist there? A combination of both is required I'm sure but idk in what proportions
>>24793385behold, dis the type of nigga whose indecision made his gf leave him
>literal AI thread
>>24792255>>24792309Neither of you have read her
>>24793511exactly, the lady is a genius
>>24793511isn't hilary mantel a dude tho or am i thinking of howie mandel
>>24793514>/lit/ will unironically bag on this absolute masterpiece
>>24792289but there are no geniuses that have written in the english language
>>24792248>Ai is retardedYou are the first person to ever think this! Woah! You should like write a book dude!
>>24793537checkmate, faggot
>>24792261True. Tolstoy might be the king of them all. He's almost unmatched.
>>24792309It meant Hilary Putnam
>>24793511I've read Wolf Hall. It's good but to consider her among the greatest writers of the English language is utterly absurd, and only an opinion a middle class woman of lukewarm intelligence could hold.
Alright, I liked Joyce a lot in my early 20s, but did I really sound like >>24792303 all the time? I mean Jesus, you cannot go into a thread here without someone talking about how Joyce is the best at everything no questions asked. I wonder if he's become babies introduction to hard literature
>>24794376who do you prefer now in your mid 20s?
>>24793514I feel like women can't into rhythm
>>24794571My taste got a lot weirder and more sporadic. I read contemporary stuff, medieval literature, non fiction about niche topics, and I had a weird run earlier this year with adventure literature, leading me to a cool website where some mega autist ranked the top 100 adventure books from the past 3 centuries with little write ups on each book
>>24794571>>24794679kek
>>24792335Kafka's prose is way too autistic, his books read like those deviantartists that write about being foreverially tied up and genetically modified, lubed up sleeping bag tunnel soldiers.
>>24793385Good style is clarity and nothing else. Good style is when every layer of the writing - literal meaning, connotation, rhythm, sound, word order - is subordinate to the thought the author is trying to express. The KJV Ecclesiastes and Lolita, for example, could not be further apart stylistically, but both have good style, because in each work every element works in harmony to support one unified effect. Underneath the style of writing is the style of thought, which is pretty much the whole essence and character of the writer’s mind. That’s where we find originality, wit, insight, poignancy, apt metaphors, and so on. If the style of writing is the skin of the fruit then the style of thought is the flesh. Good style in writing can be learned and mastered by anyone of average intelligence and education. Good style in thought is a gift that cannot be taught or acquired. The problem with good style in writing is that it reveals most clearly the style of our thought, which 99% of the time is disorderly, boring, insignificant, and generally worthless. Thus all the flowery language people use to cover up their intellectual poverty, like make-up on an ugly girl’s face. We can learn to write like Melville or Conrad, but we can never learn to see the world through their eyes and think with their minds. Put differently we can learn to write beautifully but we can’t learn to think beautifully.
