Purple Prose? No, it's Called Style.
I have been, upon occasion, described as writing purple prose.
As someone whose native linguistic mindset was formed by the Russian language first before any other, and whose reading was shaped by old literature, I used to find it curious, but understandable -- cognitive and linguistic differences abound between various languages and evolving eras of communication.
But now I am actually grieving the loss that the modern world of ours -- a world of quick sound bytes and abbreviated communications, of 140 character tweets and billboard log-lines -- is experiencing in the diminishing appreciation of full-bodied virtuoso language and various linguistic flourish.
I find it sad that the unwritten "standard" of modern writing is "transparent" prose.
Indeed, verbal flourishes of any kind, including vivid imagery, rich metaphors, adverbs, roundabout sentence structure, and descriptive deviations, are often mistaken for "purple" prose....
Purple prose? No, it's called Style.
And too many modern readers no longer recognize it. Style is assumed to be obscuring and unnecessary.
Verbal excess is disdained.
And even when they do recognize style, the effort of "wading through" is just too much.
Maybe it's a sign of the times, and but one of the stages in our civilization that, due to the content overload, finds value in simplicity. It's like going back to the hungry basics and relishing simple food instead of gourmet fare.
I grieve, nevertheless.
As someone whose native linguistic mindset was formed by the Russian language first before any other, and whose reading was shaped by old literature, I used to find it curious, but understandable -- cognitive and linguistic differences abound between various languages and evolving eras of communication.
But now I am actually grieving the loss that the modern world of ours -- a world of quick sound bytes and abbreviated communications, of 140 character tweets and billboard log-lines -- is experiencing in the diminishing appreciation of full-bodied virtuoso language and various linguistic flourish.
I find it sad that the unwritten "standard" of modern writing is "transparent" prose.
Indeed, verbal flourishes of any kind, including vivid imagery, rich metaphors, adverbs, roundabout sentence structure, and descriptive deviations, are often mistaken for "purple" prose....
Purple prose? No, it's called Style.
And too many modern readers no longer recognize it. Style is assumed to be obscuring and unnecessary.
Verbal excess is disdained.
And even when they do recognize style, the effort of "wading through" is just too much.
Maybe it's a sign of the times, and but one of the stages in our civilization that, due to the content overload, finds value in simplicity. It's like going back to the hungry basics and relishing simple food instead of gourmet fare.
I grieve, nevertheless.