Re: RARA-AVIS: "transparent" prose

From: Pat Zeitoun ( pwz@tca.net)
Date: 17 Jan 2002


From: "Carrie Pruett" <pruettc@hotmail.c>

"And there are authors whose sentences I stop and reread because they get something so right or state it so eloquently. However, is this necessarily a good thing? Isn't there something to be said for transparent prose, writing that calls no attention to itself, so it never gets between you and the story? "

Oh Carrie, I think it is a very good thing. The very HB author James Crumley writes so beautifully that often I just put the book down and revel in his use of the language. And I do not find that this gets between me and the 'story'. My taste in fiction is driven by language and character development above plot.

I just finished Crumley's 'One To Count Cadence'. I believe this was his first novel, before he became known as a 'crime writer'. Damn, anyway you go about it, it's Literature!

Cheers,

PatZ

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