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Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Sometimes Prose Style
Tells You More Than
Prose Content.


Here's a newspaper editor/reviewer explaining how he fell for the Nasdijj hoax:

His prose style, a graceful staccato that packed an aphoristic punch, was vivid and fresh. But -- and it hurts to say this now -- it was the book's searing honesty that set it apart. "Nasdijj" went to very dark places before bleeding on the page, though now it is clear he was shedding crocodile tears. "The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams" became a finalist for the PEN Award for best first nonfiction. I hailed it as a masterpiece.


Searing honesty, dark places, crocodile tears, hailed it as a masterpiece... This is prose that packs a platitudinous punch and justifies the suspicion that the author went for the Nasdijj thing because he can't distinguish between good and bad writing.

via aldaily