Re: GG's Writing Style

[Sean Malone <spm29386@oregon.uoregon.edu>]

Well, here's my shot at the brownie points...

    Not withstanding the regular, if not ineffective, use of comma after
comma and endlessly recursive appositives, one could say, without the fear
of the kind of puritan reprisal that Mr. Bach's ancestors reveled in during
the burning of any local witch, that it seems as if the stunted, stuttering,
opening salvos of Herr Gould retain a style that Schoenberg, despite his
propensity for childishly numerical pitch-class sets, sets that even today
beg for forgiveness, would have delighted in their own convoluted sense of
self-importance.

Best,
Sean Malone
Music Theory
University of Oregon
http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~spm29386

PS: Please don't read into the words, it was just for fun.

> GG's writing style is another aspect that comes under
> (constant) criticism. Yes, his writing was often
> convoluted, and he liked big words. But was this accidental, perhaps an
> outgrowth of the way he talked?
> Maybe he meant it to come out that way.
>
> I'm not saying he shouldn't have been edited a bit more now
> and then. <wink> Still, he had a voice. When you edit essays
> and the like, you're supposed to preserve the voice of the
> author, even if your instinct is screaming, _Isn't there a
> shorter word you can use?_
>
> What do you think is the most difficult element of GG's
> writing style? Is it the writing style and the word choice?
> Or is it the use of phrases and names from popular culture,
> references to Canadian landmarks (such as highways), etc.?
>
> Do you like or dislike GG's writing style? What are the
> elements that make you like and/or dislike it?
>
> Extra brownie points to anyone who can imitate GG's writing
> style in their response. ;->
>
> Anne M. Marble
> amarble@sff.net
>
> P.S. Well, at least Glenn Gould never wrote like the guy who
> wrote the Eye of Argon. I mean, GG obviously loved his
> Thesaurus, but unlike Jim Theis, he didn't take it out on
> dates. Hope this URL still works:
> http://www.cybercomm.net/~dano/hum-eyeofargon.html