Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 4.3bsd-beta 6/6/85; site topaz.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!ihnp4!cbosgd!cbdkc1!desoto!packard!topaz!JAFFE From: JAFFE@RUTGERS.ARPA Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: Re: Donaldson's Excessively Distended Verbosity Message-ID: <2517@topaz.ARPA> Date: Mon, 8-Jul-85 16:28:40 EDT Article-I.D.: topaz.2517 Posted: Mon Jul 8 16:28:40 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 9-Jul-85 07:21:02 EDT Sender: daemon@topaz.ARPA Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. Lines: 32 From: azure!chrisa (Chris Andersen) >From: Jamie.Zawinski@CMU-CS-SPICE > >I think that this quote of a quote from Chalker's VENGANCE OF THE DANCING >GODS says it all: > > "When chronicling great adventures, the chronicler should take pains > to use words that even the most educated of readers must look up. > this may make your chronicle very slow, if not impossible to read, > but it will be critically acclaimed throughout the land, for none > will wish to admit that they didn't understand and relish every > word. Instead, they will use the comfort with such phraseology as > a limitus test for intelectual equality. No one may ever really read > you, but all will be forced to purchase a copy of the chronicle to > convince others that they did, and your brilliance and intellect > will be permanently unquestioned." > > --The Romantic Saga Writer's Manual of Style, Marahbar > I don't wish to admit that I didn't understand and relish every word because I *did* in fact understand and relish every word (of the first trilogy, I ignore the second). I am not an "intellectual" who measures a book by how many verbose words the writer uses. I measure it by how much it affected me. How much of it stuck with me after I read it. How much I learned about myself from the book. I liked the first trilogy because I it was good (to me). If you didn't, fine. But don't start questioning where my tastes come from. Chris Andersen