tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post4796866958931328279..comments2024-01-06T10:36:04.084-05:00Comments on A Commonplace Blog: The harsh styleD. G. Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-85597296966161243742009-08-07T21:56:09.216-04:002009-08-07T21:56:09.216-04:00Suave? Recall Oliver Goldsmith:
"there is ...Suave? Recall Oliver Goldsmith:<br /><br />"there is no arguing with Johnson; for when his pistol misses fire, he knocks you down with the butt."<br /><br />I forebear to quote the one about the bawdy house and the receiver of stolen goods because I can't source it.<br /><br />I think Trotsky is actually pretty good, if you like savage invective.Bucehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16452321114185736762noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-22481313510217770352009-08-07T16:32:27.973-04:002009-08-07T16:32:27.973-04:00Rebecca West! Yes! Exactly so!
I first read Black...Rebecca West! Yes! Exactly so!<br /><br />I first read <i>Black Lamb and Grey Falcon</i>, one of the greatest unplaceable books of all time, in a class taught by the poet and critic Howard Nemerov. I really must go back to it. It is inexhaustible.<br /><br />Her criticism, collected in <i>The Strange Necessity</i>, is peerless. I wish I could write like the author of the essay “Uncle Bennett.”D. G. Myershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-81098583640211031662009-08-07T16:16:07.159-04:002009-08-07T16:16:07.159-04:00I've been lately enjoying the writings of one ...I've been lately enjoying the writings of one of the most savage -- and most brilliant and funniest -- of the harsh-style mavens, Rebecca West. To our host, I wonder if you've read her (especially Black Lamb and Grey Falcon) and is so what your opinion of her is?shadehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04825133649641081854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-73592793336788297272009-08-07T15:53:51.007-04:002009-08-07T15:53:51.007-04:00To be harsh, you must be sure of your position - w...To be harsh, you must be sure of your position - which is why I will probably never write in the harsh style. I prefer to be jocular, so that in case I'm wrong or have committed a violent misreading of some text, I can pretend I was never serious or passionate. The young, cowardly writer swathes herself in "self-protective ambiguity"!<br /><br />And when I'm not being facetious or twee, I tend to write clinically.<br /><br />The harsh style is admirable... and frightening!Rebecca V. O'Nealhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07920443685663707856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-16420259482621969012009-08-07T14:31:15.941-04:002009-08-07T14:31:15.941-04:00Thanks for the context of Leftist brawls from the ...Thanks for the context of Leftist brawls from the ’thirties. Yes, the anti-Stalinist and later anti-Communist Left was almost uniformly harsh in its prose. They had been trained in Party polemics.<br /><br />As for Dr Johnson. He is far too suave ever to be harsh, although his intent is often punitive. Reminds me of another Cunningham epigram:<br /><br /><i>A periphrastic insult, not a banal:<br />You are not a loud-mouthed and half-assed worm;<br />You are, sir, magni-oral, semi-anal,<br />A model for a prophylactic firm.</i><br /><br />The other Jonson is more likely to dip into the harsh, merciless style.D. G. Myershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-51324152711773673142009-08-07T14:00:21.670-04:002009-08-07T14:00:21.670-04:00Well, even more than Stalin, Trotsky. But what wo...Well, even more than Stalin, Trotsky. But what would you say of S Johnson, who does the most savage put-downs but in a Johnsonian style: "In out passage through the boundless ocean of disquisition we often take fog for land, and after having long toiled to approach them find, instead of repose and harbours, new storms of objection, find fluctuations of uncertainty." [That's the "Review of Jenyns.")Bucehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16452321114185736762noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-42887806312945950572009-08-07T13:25:48.037-04:002009-08-07T13:25:48.037-04:00When that which can be objectively explained becom...When that which can be objectively explained becomes hidden within the fuzzy embellishment of the subjective, it takes a certain harsh treatment to sweep away the fuzziness and get back to the core. For a better understanding of the positive side of "harsh," consider the roots of the word which go all the way back to Indo-European roots (kars = to scratch or comb) and Latin (carerre - to card wool); viewed in that light, there is nothing "wrong" with being harsh because it can be positive employed for the scratching away the fuzziness and uncovering the greater goodness of clarity.R/Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07791522136032565027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-19024599251887188722009-08-07T11:44:33.320-04:002009-08-07T11:44:33.320-04:00Hook was up against Stalinists. Anything less than...Hook was up against Stalinists. Anything less than confrontational would have been fatal...to him.ricpichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01321511130788764861noreply@blogger.com