Comments on: No Check to my Genius from Beginning to End

By: The Almighty Bob

The Almighty Bob — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 20:41:37 +0000

#16 not required; would you like a translation?
It may come as a shock to you, but people in previous generations wrote differently. That’s why the actors in period dramas – or Shakespeare – talk that way. Though that, of course, assumes you’ve seen a period drama.

By: Shalanna Collins

Shalanna Collins — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 11:26:02 +0000

Nothing much to say except that I wish the brilliant Andy.S and Abigail were commenters on MY blog (LiveJournal), as they think along the same lines as I do. For some reason, the popular line for writers’ workshops today is that TODAY’S WAY OF DOING IT IS THE GOOD WAY and that all more-wordy ways or ways that aren’t in style at the moment are bad adn to be mocked. Granted, you won’t get published easily if you don’t write the way that the agents/editors think will sell right now, but that doesn’t mean that Dickens, Austen, Shakespeare, Milton, and all the greats whose work has endured from the past are not still great.

Parody is tough. It’s a difficult tightrope to walk–making something funny but still recognizable as the style of the author you’re parodying.

By: TomC

TomC — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 04:11:07 +0000

I’m guessing that the author of this piece has managed to muddle Austen and the Bronte sisters — not terribly surprising if one’s only exposure to either was in the same month of a particular high school English class. For example, here’s an excerpt from Wuthering Heights:

Happily, an inhabitant of the kitchen made more dispatch: a lusty dame, with tucked-up gown, bare arms, and fire-flushed cheeks, rushed into the midst of us flourishing a frying-pan: and used that weapon, and her tongue, to such purpose, that the storm subsided magically, and she only remained, heaving like a sea after a high wind, when her master entered on the scene.

“Lusty”, “fire-flushed”, “heaving” — this seems to be more the effect the author was seeking.

By: Abigail

Abigail — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:54:23 +0000

Well, bear in mind that literate people used to be a much smaller group than they are today. The barrier to literacy (the kind of literacy that enables one to read a novel) used to be a lot higher, and people who cleared it would almost certainly get the kind of classical education that we would consider demanding and scholarly.

That said, there’s no denying that novels used to be written in more ornate prose than they generally are today.

By: andy.s

andy.s — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:45:06 +0000

The thing I can’t help noticing when reading Jane Austen or any other literature from that era is how intelligent the author expected his/her audience to be.

Trying to read the The Federalist Papers gave me a similar twinge. These books were expected to be read by the average literate person.

Most people today, even most smart people, would have a hard time getting through them. All those big damn words and long whaddycallem … sentences!

Damn, I feel like such a dummy. Think I’ll go turn on Wheel of Fortune and laugh at the goobers on it.

By: Sean

Sean — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:42:49 +0000

Sam, don’t worry — I am notoriously unmoved by criticism in the comments! Well, misguided criticism, anyway.

By: Sam Gralla

Sam Gralla — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:28:37 +0000

Well Sean, please post more about literature in the future, despite this mixed reaction. For every reader who leaves a silly comment–perhaps a member of that certain class of “science person” who just doesn’t get a thing about literature–maybe one “literature person” will read and realize that some scientists aren’t tasteless heathens after all (hopefully that person won’t see the comments).

By: Not Required

Not Required — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 04:22:01 +0000

“In such cases as this, it is, I believe, the established mode to express a sense of obligation for the sentiments avowed, however unequally they may be returned. It is natural that obligation should be felt, and if I could feel gratitude, I would now thank you. ”

Ummm….this crap *needs* a parody??

By: weichi

weichi — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:01:42 +0000

“That will make your ladyship’s situation at present more pitiable; but it will have no effect on me.”

Awesome. I do need to read it.

By: Todd

Todd — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:48:30 +0000

Ouch!

Adjectives and noun modifiers:

From 5 lines of the football parody: fragrant, blazing, amorous, incandescent, gray.

From 38 lines of P&P: sufficient, family, favourable, real, good, short, little.