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Pastimes : SI Grammar and Spelling Lab -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: The Philosopher who wrote (3139)	7/8/1999 11:17:00 PM
From: Achilles	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4711

You make some excellent points and I want to retract what I said, if only to tentatively suggest (perhaps only to be proven wrong again) that great prose about trivial subjects can still be good, but that great writing requires a great theme. You'll forgive me if I retreat into something I know more about, Greek prose. Xenophon's prose style is every bit as good mechanically as Plato's or Herodotus' or Thucydides'. But what the last three wrote was much more profound, and so I regard them as the greater prose stylists. Is that more acceptable?

To: The Philosopher who wrote (3139)	7/9/1999 12:24:00 AM
From: B.C.	Respond to of 4711

Re: "A great prose style in the service of a trivial topic becomes trivial". I disagree, and I was about to tell you why when I saw my line of reasoning manifested in Christopher's post...again. Life is composed of a series of details and impressions--morning dishes, a certain slant of light on a summer morning, fields of freshly baled hay, the sound of the flag snapping like gunfire in the breeze, white sheets drying on the line, pots of pink geraniums on a sunny windowsill, fireflies on a steamy evening in August, the comforting ritual of the morning bath, the aroma of freshly ground coffee, etc. Some of the best writing addresses these topics in a crisp new way and turns even the most "trivial" topic into a soulful and enlightening and magical experience for the reader. Good writing screams with honesty, and everyday occurences can be made just as compelling as molecular biology or plate tectonics or WWIII under the skill of a mindful writer.