JAN 23 – Here, from this article irresistibly titled “How To Write a (Good) Sentence” (and who doesn’t want to?), the line that made me fall off my chair clutching my amply upholstered sides:
“If the history of the American sentence were a John Ford movie, its second act would conclude with the young Ernest walking into a saloon, finding an etiolated Henry James slumped at the bar in a haze of indecision, and shooting him dead.”
And here, the line that made me a tad bit misty-eyed (yes, this clearly is the “you’ll laugh, you’ll cry” of print pieces):
“The writing of complete sentences for aural pleasure as well as news is going the way of the playing of musical instruments—it’s becoming a speciality rather than a means most people have to a little amateur, unselfconscious enjoyment.”
PS: In ten years, who, I wonder, is going to have the patience for the written word! Other than, of course, students of literature and academics who sign up very specifically for reading. Lots and lots of it.
PPS: Or should that be five years? Maybe the good people attending the Jaipur Literary Festival can tell us.
Baradwaj Rangan 
Just Another Film Buff
January 23, 2011
Could you make the article into a PPT and summarize please?
LikeLike
bran1gan
January 23, 2011
JAFB: Better yet, why not tweet the whole damn thing?
LikeLike
Just Another Film Buff
January 23, 2011
From the Onion that costs less
LikeLike
bran1gan
January 23, 2011
JAFB: ROFL at “I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Mark Shelton, a high school teacher from St. Paul, MN who stared blankly at the page in front of him for several minutes before finally holding it up to his ear. “What does it want from us?” Reminded me of the apes around the monolith 🙂
LikeLike
Just Another Film Buff
January 23, 2011
Hehe, only that the evolution is in reverse.
LikeLike
Padawan
January 24, 2011
JAFB: That was hilarious. Thank you.
Baradwaj: From your review of No One Killed Jessica, “I suppose there will be those who bring up the not insignificant issue of manufacturing a…”
Can you please tell me what is it that interest people with the double negatives? Why can’t it just be “I suppose there will be those who bring up the significant issue of manufacturing a…”.
Why a not and then a insignificant? Just curious.
Is it because, not insignificant does not necessarily translate to significant just like “I don’t dislike Vijay” does not translate to “I like Vijay”
And, have you watched Aadukalam yet? Quite riveting. One of the best things was Vetrimaran crediting all the movies in a filmography section (Virumaandi – Kamal Hassan, Paruthiveeran – Ameer, Amorres Perros and all that)
LikeLike
kapil
January 24, 2011
Rangan – You read Slate? Never pictured you as a Slate type, thought maybe youre of the Newyorker/NY Review of Books creed!
LikeLike
kannan
January 24, 2011
My favourite line – “When a sentence is made stronger, it usually becomes shorter.” People just don’t understand this at all, brevity sells!
LikeLike
Gradwolf
January 24, 2011
I am not sure about respect and patience for the written word in general but surely the “writing” passion boom of the last 5 yrs with blogs etc. is dead. The whole thing was driven by instant gratification and debate building exercises and with things like Twitter providing them much more efficiently and quickly, the patience for the written word from that lot is gone.
It’s upto the actual writers and ppl in the writing profession to awe us from time to time. So in case you start doing something else for a living, don’t forget this space for our sake!
LikeLike
bran1gan
January 24, 2011
Padawan: But there is a difference between an issue being “significant” and it being not insignificant”, no? In the first case, the issue’s importance is a given. In the latter, it’s in flux.
But in general, you shouldn’t go too much by those who write with deadlines on their heads. This piece is about authors who had the time to shape and sculpt their sentences. Maybe I’ll get there one day 😉
kapil: I read. Period. What’s a Slate “type” BTW? I’m assuming now that it’s everything I’m not 🙂
kannan: Actually, that brevity bit is from the book that the writer is saying is no longer valid — he’s arguing now that the only rule is that there are no rules.
gradwolf: But how would one do on twitter what one does on a blog? I mean, you can’t write an essay on twitter, can you? Like that MMKR thing you wrote recently? Or are you saying that there are people who post line by line?
Speaking of twitter, I’ve been asked to be on some sort of panel for selecting the year’s best films, but the voting will be done by twitter. Sounds interesting. It’s awards season after all 🙂
LikeLike
Gradwolf
January 24, 2011
No what am saying is people who wrote on blogs and such have lost the patience for the written word(and reading). The driving force behind their writing consisted of the comments they got and discussions it spawned. And in Twitter you just tweet out your thoughts, ppl follow you and see it instantly, you get feedback, discussions etc. stem from there. So the personal satisfaction of the written word, for the passionate souls is not on Twitter. They still write blogs. But for those who don’t really care as much about writing, it’s passe. Of course am generalizing a little bit here.
LikeLike
Gradwolf
January 24, 2011
And you are probably talking about the Twifi awards?
LikeLike
VJ
January 24, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4BK_2VULCU 🙂
LikeLike
Hari
January 25, 2011
Had a good time reading the article, thanks.
Your poetic attention to detail and tendency to let the writing take a ‘creative flourish’ add a lot of value to your writing, make the reading experience enjoyable, interactive(even if time-consuming at times). Good writing as per me blurs the line between the two protagonists and let the reader understand, appreciate and draw interpretations;the reader would then carry the process forward by putting his own thoughts into words-the process can be taken as a continuum rather than a story with a definite ending-it gives room for further evolution-if poem/movie induces to do this, it is surely worth appreciating.
LikeLike
Hari
January 25, 2011
“In ten years, who, I wonder, is going to have the patience for the written word!”
I guess the process of writing, just like a language does, would take on new dimensions-the depths one can explore with the written word, one may not be able to do with audio-visuals. We still have a lot of ground to cover in terms of educating our populace here in India; the intellectual thirst of the arrivists surely needs to be quenched). A case in point is the revised NCERT curriculum-surely makes me want to be a school-kid again.
LikeLike
Aurora Vampiris
January 25, 2011
As a Gen Z member, I take offense to the accusation that patience for the written word is declining. I’d rather phrase it as the fact that options for entertainment have become more diverse. Now, more than ever, we depend on visual media (such as films) to educate and enlighten us. Nonetheless, to say that our thirst for books has greatly reduced would be false. A well-written article is always appreciated.
Just… divide it into short paragraphs. With pictures. 😛
For instance, take Cracked – the website, or even Onion – the “newsblog”. These are some of the most well-read article-based websites on the net, especially by members of my generation. Just don’t concentrate too hard on the Twilight faction. 😀
LikeLike
Aurora Vampiris
January 25, 2011
Okay, I just had to comment again. Read the article (on The Slate) and it just MIGHT be true (i.e. the comments about writing “habits” amongst the present generation). However, has the writing standard declined so much these days? Doesn’t it all depend on whether one prefers, say, Dan Brown or Hari Kunzru?
LikeLike
rameshram
January 26, 2011
as a person that dates gen Z-ers, I totally agree with the punjabi vampire. Gen Z is the one that read all eight hundered pages each of Harry potter and then the twilight series and also miscellaneous books based on films like the loin the which and the wartrobe and others. compare this to generation y or the millenials, you will find a whole lot of manga(gen Y) and Hannah montana.
although gen y-ers (whom I have also dated) are by far the sexier in their formative years. something with not having Hannah montana and hermoine granger(not the worthy poster on this forum, whom I think can be wonderful) as rolemodels frees up teen sexuality to dream free….I guess.
LikeLike
400BlowJobs
January 26, 2011
Clicked on the link JAFB shared. Pic showing bearded bloke staring at a piece of paper. Registered the number of Tweets(445) and the number of Likes(8K). Started reading. Shuddered at large block of uninterrupted text(not one large pulled quote). Scrolled to the end of page. Pic showing good-looking brunette. Went back to the last sentence. “Whatever it is, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t even have a point.” Nodded in agreement. Back to the brunette. Caption underneath read “Winona Ryder Finally Agrees To Sleep With Generation X.”
Score!
LikeLike
Hermoine Granger
January 26, 2011
Are you keeping track of this program, BR?
LikeLike
rameshram
January 26, 2011
HG my favorite song!! here you onepoint five i one point five idhil yaar pirindhalum vedhanai point five….
LikeLike
apala
January 26, 2011
http://www.slashfilm.com/wtf-ridiculously-insane-indian-robot-action-movie-enthiran-watch/#more-96557
LikeLike
bran1gan
January 27, 2011
rameshram: I’m sure your autobiography is going to be a very interesting read 🙂
Hermoine Granger: Not really much of a TV watcher. HAve no patience with ads and stuff.
apala: Saridhaan! 😉
LikeLike
rameshram
January 27, 2011
Whose gonna write it?!
LikeLike
rameshram
January 27, 2011
apala,
That same clip just made it to gizmodo. I’m impressed.(bet it’s AR Rahman’s oscar publicity machine pushing it).
http://gizmodo.com/5744805/the-only-sci+fi-movie-you-need-to-watch-for-the-rest-of-your-life
LikeLike
bran1gan
January 27, 2011
Ask a question about the written word, and the Worldy Wise Web provides the answer 🙂
LikeLike