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Post by ramseycampbell on Oct 11, 2021 12:12:12 GMT
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Oct 11, 2021 13:31:19 GMT
One wishes Stephen King would channel his insecurities in some less unpleasant way. There is nothing particularly bad, or good, for that matter, about V C Andrews's prose. Nobody reads Andrews, or King, for their prose. And yet FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC is a masterpiece, albeit a demented one, something King has never come close to producing.
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Post by ramseycampbell on Oct 11, 2021 14:17:54 GMT
I wouldn't say insecurity was involved, unless you're saying that any criticism of a writer admired by some folk is evidence of it.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Oct 11, 2021 15:31:26 GMT
King's insecurities about his own literary importance are well documented, not least by himself. And why else would he feel the need to claim that Andrews wrote the worst English prose in the universe?
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Oct 11, 2021 15:32:39 GMT
I had never seen Alan Ryan before. And I have to admit I had not realized he was an American.
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Post by andydecker on Oct 11, 2021 15:47:12 GMT
King's insecurities about his own literary importance are well documented, not least by himself. And why else would he feel the need to claim that Andrews's wrote the worst English prose in the universe? Nearly 50 years later he still tops the bestseller lists, so who cares any longer about his literary importance?
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Oct 11, 2021 16:00:20 GMT
King's insecurities about his own literary importance are well documented, not least by himself. And why else would he feel the need to claim that Andrews's wrote the worst English prose in the universe? Nearly 50 years later he still tops the bestseller lists, so who cares any longer about his literary importance? I am sure nobody ever did. Except he himself.
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Post by ramseycampbell on Oct 12, 2021 11:34:52 GMT
King's insecurities about his own literary importance are well documented, not least by himself. And why else would he feel the need to claim that Andrews's wrote the worst English prose in the universe? Because he thought it, I should think, or perhaps was exaggerating for effect. As for insecurity about one's merits as a writer - well, yes, those seem to come with the activity, however good one is told the work is.
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Post by ramseycampbell on Oct 12, 2021 11:40:18 GMT
I confess I haven't read Andrews, but I just had a look at the prologue of Flowers in the Attic, and the first line of the second paragraph (about Dickens) is pretty dire. I suppose it depends whether that can be blamed on the narrator as a writer.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Oct 12, 2021 12:24:12 GMT
I confess I haven't read Andrews, but I just had a look at the prologue of Flowers in the Attic, and the first line of the second paragraph (about Dickens) is pretty dire. I suppose it depends whether that can be blamed on the narrator as a writer. It is a common error that should have been caught by a copy editor. Still, it does not make Andrews's prose the worst out there. Of course, Dan Brown was not around in 1983.
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Post by johnnymains on Oct 12, 2021 12:32:22 GMT
I confess I haven't read Andrews, but I just had a look at the prologue of Flowers in the Attic, and the first line of the second paragraph (about Dickens) is pretty dire. I suppose it depends whether that can be blamed on the narrator as a writer. It is a common error that should have been caught by a copy editor. Still, it does not make Andrews's prose the worst out there. Of course, Dan Brown was not around in 1983. Neither was I.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Oct 12, 2021 12:35:19 GMT
Since I brought him up, I feel I must share with you some favorite passages from the oeuvre of Dan Brown. One is from THE DA VINCI CODE and concerns a really big couch:
An even better one is from DECEPTION POINT and reveals unsettling activities on the part of animals:
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Post by ramseycampbell on Oct 12, 2021 13:21:14 GMT
That's pretty immense.
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Post by andydecker on Oct 12, 2021 14:05:28 GMT
As a foreigner I don't get it. What is the problem here? Are there no octagonal divans?
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Oct 12, 2021 14:27:26 GMT
As a foreigner I don't get it. What is the problem here? Are there no octagonal divans? To be sure, but they rarely seat thousands of people. And the one in front of the Mona Lisa, that he is talking about, definitely does not.
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