The beauty of simple writing

[Jan Mbali]

There is beauty in simplicity, but where does it come from? How deceptive is it in terms of athenticity? I know as a writer it is hell to get achieve. I have been reading Isaac Bashevis Singer's Gimple the Fool collection of stories and have read his novel "The Slave". He cultivates a rich tradition of what I call simple writing. One story begins:

I come from Turbin, and there we had a wife killer. Pelte was his name, Pelte the Wife Killer. He had four wives and, may it not be held against hime, he sent them all off to the other side.
Singer talks through mouths of impoversihed, isolated small-town folk. Every country has a writer who draws on a purportedly simple rustic past. My favourite is Ignatzio Silone's "Fontamara", told in simple Italian as if the peasants were trying not to speak their strong dialect. Movies can adopt this technique effectively, like Padre Padrone (Sardian dialect not spoken), have long effective silences, in that case exagerated to show the isolation of a shepherd boy. Poetry and music have their equivalents, dawing on rural life and rythms of speech. We have the marvelous Charles Herman Bosman of Mafeking Road fame, stpories told by a sly Boer from the backveldt. But of course there are the Hemmigways who simply cut to the bone, using archetypes and other conceits.

[Daniel del Real]

Interesting thread Jan
I'm sure there are many writers that when I've read them I thought about their nice simplicity in that moment.
Right now one name pops out of my mind. Alessandro Baricco. His novels are told that way, in a very soft and velvety flow. This is the way that Silk is told, making honors to its name. The other two novels I've read him goes the same way.
I really admire the easy path he takes to tell a story and make it at the same time profound.

[Clarissa]

Silk seems so simply written but it is one of the most deceptively simple books I have ever read. True consummate artistry. (I read it in French and found it quite remarkable). Fran?oise Sagan was not the world's greatest writer but she too had the gift of transparent simplicity. Deceptive there too as she coud say in one sentence more than most writers can in a page.
I discovered Baricco with Silk and shall certainly read him again.

[Bev Stayart]

Abraham Lincoln was an eloquently simple and direct writer. He was one of the most gifted writers of all U.S. Presidents.

[ferns_dad]

I'm a big fan of the short simple sentances of JM Coetzee. There is also richness in long involved sentances and wandering paragraphs......

[Jan Mbali]

Abraham Lincoln was an eloquently simple and direct writer. He was one of the most gifted writers of all U.S. Presidents.
Well directed. I quite often have to write for politicians, so will get hold of and study.

[Jan Mbali]

I'm a big fan of the short simple sentances of JM Coetzee. There is also richness in long involved sentances and wandering paragraphs......
A good exemplar. Waiting for the Barbarians is the one work of his I consider a timeless classic and the apparent simplicity that builds up the atmosphere is essential to it. There seem to be three dimensions to the best of simple writing. One is that atmosphere/ mood building thing. Another is to get the reader into people's head spaces and look out through their eyes - often done by authentic dialogue or else interior monologue. Another is to construct a complex world around you that semes complete, even in a short story, like the mass of cultural elements that make up any community - such as a village or neighbourhood. Just has a quick reread of the Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Sheer virtuosity in all three dimensions- and she keep it simple. But I also like Dickens! True wisdom and wealth comes in many literary guises.

[Scott89119]

When thinking about great simple writers, I automatically jump to Ha Jin and Kazuo Ishiguro. The latter's "The Remains of the Day" is so devastating in large part due to the matter-of-fact way in which it is told.

[metin]

I like to mention here the article by Orwell: Politics and the English Language (http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit)

Although it does not directly aim to create awareness for simplicity in literature, it helps me a lot when I feel that I need to think on things in a clearer manner.

[Jan Mbali]

In the piece Orwell provides every writer with essential weapons, which I have kept by my side sice reading it decades ago. One is to kill stale outdated images and metaphors that have long lost the social and actual meaning that once made them clear and sharp. Very few things make my hackles rise as high as when someone uses a tired, threadbare cliche like "clarion call" or "in this day and age". By the way, if the word "hackles" has lost its currency, then I have just committed the sin I was writing about. Easy to do, so keep Mr Orwell purcched on your right shoulder like a watchful angel, ready to save you from temptation.

[nnyhav]

Academically keeping it simple:
Prune That Prose - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education (http://chronicle.com/article/Prune-That-Prose/48273)

[heidiadonis]

nnyhav, that was a good article! I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.



When thinking about great simple writers, I automatically jump to Ha Jin and Kazuo Ishiguro. The latter's "The Remains of the Day" is so devastating in large part due to the matter-of-fact way in which it is told.

I couldn't agree more. I especially liked the conclusion of the book. It made a great impression on me and it gave me a sage approach to life. It was as if I was taking a long refreshing and meditative hike. Is there any of his other books you may recommend me?