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/lit/ - Literature

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3240332 No.3240332 [Reply] [Original]

Whose prose style is your favorite?

Pic unrelated.

>> No.3240334

I ask you shamelessly: who is this gentleman?

>> No.3240339

v nabs

>> No.3240340

>>3240334
Nabokov

>> No.3240345

>>3240340
Oh gawd, having recently read Pale Fire, I must admit I'm rather ashamed

>> No.3240350

For me it's Mr. Thomas Pynchon.

>> No.3240351

>>3240332

not that well-read, but i always liked Faulkner's style in Light in August

>> No.3240353

André Malraux for me. In French, bien sûre.

>> No.3240354

Jean Rhys

>> No.3240368
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3240368

>implying prose are more important than spaghetti

>> No.3240397

Hemingway, especially Old Man and the Sea.

>> No.3240399

>>3240397

tao lin, hands down. he changed my life with his insite.

>> No.3240402

>>3240399
>insite

>> No.3240408
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3240408

Céline

>> No.3240413

Shakespeare.

Step up /lit/.

>> No.3240418
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3240418

Mostly for Wild:An Elemental Journey.

Runner ups:
Pynchon / Twain / Okri /
Lots of authors that have amazing prose only kept them up for one or two novels like Ben Okri and Tom Wolfe, then there are others that have currently only released one book like Gregory David Roberts.

>> No.3240446

Mervin Peake
I'm reading the gormenghast novels right now and I'm finding his style both elegant and amusing. Quiet a good read.

>> No.3240449

>>3240332
Hubert Aquin

>> No.3240460

>>3240446
Fuck this goes to show how mind fucked I've been lately, I literally just finished Titus Groan and didn't even think to put him on my list>>3240418 even though I thought his prose were fantastic.

Which book are you on?

>> No.3240464

>>3240460
nearing the end of the first one now. Only got like 50 pages left.

>> No.3240474

>>3240464
Great, what was your favorite part? I think mine was when Steerpike found the Courtyard in the sky, that part was so damn beautiful.

>> No.3240506

Hemingway/Melville/McCarthy/Stein/Joyce/Fitzgerald

All that lot. Great antithesis to modern stuffiness.

>> No.3240516

>>3240474
oh, what to pick.

well I really liked the reveries, at first I thought it was a bit annoying but as I reflect on it I think its inclusion was pure genius. Specifically Clarice's when it briefly explains that hers would be exactly the same as Cora's apart from replacing her name with her sisters. As silly as it was he did such a good job of building the characters that I hardly expected anything else.

I also really enjoy every scene that focuses on Fuchsia and Steerpike (excluding their first encounter because I hated Fuchsia until shortly after this point). I think their characters have great chemistry with each other and its nice to see Steerpike loose small battles occasional.

when Sourdust is performing the ritual shortly after Titus's birth and Gertrude tells him to hurry up and is eyes mist off with tears because of the annoyance in her voice. Something about that small sad little exchange really got to me.

I think I really could go on all day, so much great stuff in this book so far.

>> No.3240545

>>3240516
How the fuck do you hide posts? I was going to do that but didn't know how.

What I hated about Fuschia was Steerpike asked her such obvious questions and she always answered with I don't know, it takes a instant to think and come up with ideas yet she seems like she can't even fathom that. You just wanted to shake her and say fucking think Fuschia! I guess she had a very unusual upbringing though.

I kind of feel like the book was a little too episodic, it didn't flow extremely well but I guess everything has it's flaws.

>> No.3240547

>>3240545
Like this: (remove the 'd' in the first bracket)

[dspoiler]text[/spoiler]

>> No.3240555

>>3240506
>not realizing he just conceded that 'modern stuffiness' is likewise a great antithesis to 'all that lot'

>> No.3240559

>>3240547
Oh Sweet. Just out of curiosity, what is the point of remove the d?

>> No.3240562

>>3240559
I have no idea

>> No.3240566

>>3240562
haha it remains a mystery

>> No.3240567

>>3240562

the best part of /lit/ is spoilers!!

>> No.3240570

Tolstoy for his simplicity. Sometimes awkward, but goddamn if he isn't clear and authoritative in his descriptions.

Proust in french cause it's some of the most gorgeous shit I've read.

Pynchon in Mason & Dixon.

>> No.3240571

Joyce

>> No.3240574

>>3240567
It so is! It's like we're whispering

>> No.3240576

>>3240570
I'm stuck on Mason & Dixon, I've got that and Against the Day and I've read all Pynchon but Mason & Dixon get's to this part where it seems like endless hole of bland speech, a couple hundred pages in.

>> No.3240588

>>3240576
Damn, I really loved it. Read it in a ridiculously short amount of time.

Some people aren't into the prose and I can understand. It's challenging but really rewarding.

>> No.3240599

>>3240588
Man I'm into the prose, the start was fucking sweet but then it just started to slow down and my mind was just wrecked. It must be my reading comprehension.

When you say ridiculously short amount of time how short are we talking?

>> No.3240743

>>3240599
Around two weeks. I guess it's not ridiculously short, but for the kind of book it was...

I do agree that the beginning is a lot faster. Gets toughter towards the end but it's really worth it.

>> No.3240760

Not sure, perhaps Thomas Bernhard

>dat exaggeration

>> No.3240774

>>3240743
Yeah you could say for it's size two weeks isn't ridiculously fast but for it's density that's definitely faster than most people.

I was hoping it would get smoother near the end, I'm going to give it another go next year or move onto Against the Day, have you read Against the Day?

>> No.3240786

I'd say Nabokov, Borges, Twain, Saramago.

I also would like to say that Robert Louis Stevenson is mostly known for the overall plot and theme of his books, but has a very intelligent prose as well.

>> No.3240830

Kafka

>> No.3240844

>>3240760
Except that Thomas Bernhard's writing is totally realistic.

>> No.3240858

I like Truman Capote. No pyrotechnics, just pitch perfect by-the-book prose. It sounds like a dull thing to marvel at, but his use of punctuation is just great.

>> No.3240863

>>3240774
the ending of M&D is really rewarding, man. the whole last part is the most beautiful thing Pynchon ever wrote.

>> No.3240890

>>3240555
'modern stuffiness' = implied negative
'all that lot' = not

which side is preferrable?

>> No.3240954

>>3240774
I own a copy of Against the Day, haven't tried reading it.

>>3240863
Second this sentiment.

>> No.3241390

Probably Joyce, though I'm fond of Faulkner and Nabokov as well.

I've begun reading Pynchon recently too and have been enjoying his style much more than I expected to.

Gogol is very good as well. Interestingly my favorite novelists are not amongst my favorite prose stylists.

>> No.3241414

Pynchon all day erry day.

>> No.3241425

Michael Ondaatje, probably. Salman Rushdie and DFW also up there. Late Borges when I'm more in the pared-down mood.

>> No.3241436

What is prose style?

>> No.3242187

>>3240863
Damn well now I really have to read it because what I guess I'm forced to love is Pynchon's most of beauty that beat anything else I've ever read but they're usually glimpses or diamonds in the rough.

>>3240954
Yeah same, it's fucking big and daunting, I read the first chapter to see what it was like and it was pretty cool.

>> No.3242202

>>3241436
Writing style, like painting style. If you got everyone to draw a picture of a model they would all look different, the same is if you got everyone to write about a subject but not what they write about, how they write it.

I guess it's a word like many that are two things. Like prose is normal writing compared to poetry and then you have the prose is the actual writing it'self.
Like the word indie seems to have two meanings in music, bands that are on independent labels and bands that sound like they'e indie.

I think that's it.

>> No.3242391

Camus or Orwell for the simplicity of their prose, allowing their stories to flow much better.
David Foster Wallace or Faulkner for their technique.