The Next Freak Show, American Psycho...
A little truncated this week, but hey that's what a blog is for, yeah?
Can prose be poetry? can language, in its everyday, slang-infested form, be as beautiful as Whitman? If it can, it cannot be done by just anyone.
I'm sometimes shocked by the ignorance of people I meet...beyond abysmal sentence structure and grammar, there seems to exist a general disinterest in vocabulary, lack of individuality of thought, and disrespect for the (apparently latent) beauty of the English language.
One such as myself, inherently blessed with a silver tongue, prides himself on the ability to convey thoughts and ideas through the fantastic medium of language. Am I, then, to become a part of the illustrious upper crust? Priorities have shifted due to advances in technology, and as a result the last American writer to have any sort of influence was a novelist who achieved fame only under a pseudonym anyway. This seems to make a case against my potential literary notoriety.
The unlikelihood of fame based on true skill, true anything, is a sad sign regarding the intellectual state of our nation. and increasingly that of the world. The power lies with the rich; the athletes, the addicts, the actors and the heiresses. The best-seller list is no longer the 'cool' place to be, and is regarded more as a political tool than a breeding ground for original ideas. The bastardization of modern society is, it seems to me, inevitable...if not nearing its completion.
Writing has become a curse, a sentence of obscurity, unless you write a book the questions the religious beliefs of a majority of the world's population.
Those of you who recognized my references to Mark Twain and Dan Brown offer hope against this dumbing-down of our world, and I hope we are able to persevere, protecting the notion of individuality in hopes that our posterity can one day carry the torch of brilliance.
-jB
Can prose be poetry? can language, in its everyday, slang-infested form, be as beautiful as Whitman? If it can, it cannot be done by just anyone.
I'm sometimes shocked by the ignorance of people I meet...beyond abysmal sentence structure and grammar, there seems to exist a general disinterest in vocabulary, lack of individuality of thought, and disrespect for the (apparently latent) beauty of the English language.
One such as myself, inherently blessed with a silver tongue, prides himself on the ability to convey thoughts and ideas through the fantastic medium of language. Am I, then, to become a part of the illustrious upper crust? Priorities have shifted due to advances in technology, and as a result the last American writer to have any sort of influence was a novelist who achieved fame only under a pseudonym anyway. This seems to make a case against my potential literary notoriety.
The unlikelihood of fame based on true skill, true anything, is a sad sign regarding the intellectual state of our nation. and increasingly that of the world. The power lies with the rich; the athletes, the addicts, the actors and the heiresses. The best-seller list is no longer the 'cool' place to be, and is regarded more as a political tool than a breeding ground for original ideas. The bastardization of modern society is, it seems to me, inevitable...if not nearing its completion.
Writing has become a curse, a sentence of obscurity, unless you write a book the questions the religious beliefs of a majority of the world's population.
Those of you who recognized my references to Mark Twain and Dan Brown offer hope against this dumbing-down of our world, and I hope we are able to persevere, protecting the notion of individuality in hopes that our posterity can one day carry the torch of brilliance.
-jB