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/lit/ - Literature

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7299301 No.7299301 [Reply] [Original]

Why do we derive so much pleasure from reading well crafted prose? What is it about rhythmically perfect sentences and ingenious syntax and diction that excites us? Is there any scientific research that sheds light on this topic?

I want to know why the likes of Hawthorne and Melville stimulate my brain while authors such as Dan
Brown and James Patterson do not.

>> No.7299308
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7299308

>tfw pleb who never understood or felt what seperates good from bad prose

>> No.7299368

>>7299308
Lolita - Nabokov.

It's that easy.

>> No.7299386

they're premiere examples of language, they carry nations and histories

>> No.7299401

>>7299301

>get

>>shwifty

everyone understands that artists are in love with their medium and with communication

hacks regurgitate cliche so as to be accessible so as to make $$$$$ey

go w ur soul, chase the canon, bcum patrician

>> No.7299422

Why would you look for scientific proof in something unscientific?

>> No.7299439

>muh prose
because you're a cuck

>> No.7299441

>>7299422

Why would scientists be unable to answer my question? How are matters of language different from any other source of scientific inquiry?

>> No.7299633

I don't think there's any "scientific" answer, not yet anyway. I would say for myself that I enjoy varience in aesthetics, whether it be in art, architecture, music or language. Something "more interesting" and something new that suprises me.

>> No.7299711

back in the day, stories were passed down through oral tradition because there was no other medium. these stories are easier to remember when you turn them into catchy songs.

we are sensitive to sound, even down to being alert to someone's accent because it betrays the fact they're not from your tribe. you probably, intuitively prefer the sounds that are easy to recognize, easy to remember and easy to repeat with your own voice.

>> No.7299787

>>7299301
Don't laugh at this, but even here sounds great:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K13KjOGUQAc

>> No.7299852

>>7299368
Kek, don't listen to this guy

Read Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man or Hydriotaphia if you want good prose

>> No.7299929

>>7299439
well memed

>> No.7300791

Anthony Burgess is the greatest prose stylist of all time.

>> No.7300804

>>7299852
Word. I love Herman Hesse, but when I saw Joyce take that same Coming of Age narrative that Hesse does numerous times and write it in that beautiful prose. Shit, amazing. I still love Hesse, but I'm fully aware that his prose is nothing special, it's just the content that reaches me.

>> No.7300842

>>7299852
>Read Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
yeah nah
>>7299301
Hawthorne's prose is god tier. If you really want more of it, look into his son Julian's work