The Elegant Variation: OK, WHAT REALLY BUGS ME IS SHE LEFT ME OUT

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November 15, 2003

OK, WHAT REALLY BUGS ME IS SHE LEFT ME OUT

A rare Saturday post here, as I really should be packing up my library for my upcoming move. But Jennifer Howard's caterwauling in Sunday's Washington Post has got me too annoyed not to comment on, and I'm sure it will be the talk of the sphere come Monday morning - quite possibly her intention.

Part of blogs' usefulness as a cultural barometer is that they don't automatically buy what the establishment says about Vida or Eggers or any other overhyped phenomenon, literary or otherwise. Bloggers know what they like and what they don't like, and they aren't afraid to tell you why. And they get to use bad words that will never see print inside a family newspaper. But to get to the good stuff, you have to wade through more and more self-congratulation and mutual admiration. Call it blogrolling.

Forgetting for a moment that she takes pot-shots at all my new pals - and you don't get away with that kind of crap where I come from - I fear we have yet another journalist who's sucked down a double at the self-importance trough.

Look, I'm a neophyte out here - just turned a month old - but when asked why I do this, my answer has been that it's brought me in contact with a circle of bright, well-read, engaging folks who I otherwise would not have met. And I think that's an overlooked aspect of this whole enterprise - that which Howard complains about is one of the sphere's greatest strengths - I've got new litpals in NY, Chicago, Baltimore, Washington and even right here in L.A. It really has become something resembling a community - however ragtag and disheveled it may be. But one of the roles of the community is to support. And if I chose, every so often, to tip a gracious hat to the fine work that others are doing, wherein lies the crime?

So, just to really irritate Howard:

Maud and Jessa are so good as to make me all but unnecessary.

Lizzie has managed to make me cry.

Moorishgirl is a model of concision and insight.

TMFTML has a marvelous singing voice.

And no, Google finds neither Howard's website nor much of general note about Howard. The whole affair reeks a bit of "Why won't you let me play with you?" I know, I know, it's just another ad hominen attack.

UPDATE: A round of bravos, please for both Sarah and Terry who comport themselves with more wit and style than I managed here. Ooops - there's that gosh-durned blogrolling again!

Posted at 12:06 PM | Permalink

Comments

Thou doth protest too much.

Posted by: Paul | November 16, 2003 at 10:59 AM

If you really want to irritate Howard, you need to refer to Moorishgirl as "Laila."

Posted by: Jonathan Edelstein | November 16, 2003 at 07:05 PM

The comments to this entry are closed.

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The Elegant Variation is "Fowler’s (1926, 1965) term for the inept writer’s overstrained efforts at freshness or vividness of expression. Prose guilty of elegant variation calls attention to itself and doesn’t permit its ideas to seem naturally clear. It typically seeks fancy new words for familiar things, and it scrambles for synonyms in order to avoid at all costs repeating a word, even though repetition might be the natural, normal thing to do: The audience had a certain bovine placidity, instead of The audience was as placid as cows. Elegant variation is often the rock, and a stereotype, a cliché, or a tired metaphor the hard place between which inexperienced or foolish writers come to grief. The familiar middle ground in treating these homely topics is almost always the safest. In untrained or unrestrained hands, a thesaurus can be dangerous."

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The Elegant Variation

A Literary Weblog.
A Guardian Top 10 Literary Blog * A Forbes "Best of the Web" Pick * A Los Angeles Magazine Top Los Angeles Blog
"Really brave ... or really stupid" - NPR

November 15, 2003

OK, WHAT REALLY BUGS ME IS SHE LEFT ME OUT

Comments

MY NOVEL

WORTHY READINGS

TEV DEFINED

RECOMMENDED

THIS GUN FOR HIRE:
Reviews & Criticism

SECOND LOOK

Categories

The Elegant Variation

A Literary Weblog. A Guardian Top 10 Literary Blog * A Forbes "Best of the Web" Pick * A Los Angeles Magazine Top Los Angeles Blog "Really brave ... or really stupid" - NPR

November 15, 2003

OK, WHAT REALLY BUGS ME IS SHE LEFT ME OUT

Comments

MY NOVEL

WORTHY READINGS

TEV DEFINED

RECOMMENDED

THIS GUN FOR HIRE: Reviews & Criticism

SECOND LOOK

Categories

A Literary Weblog.
A Guardian Top 10 Literary Blog * A Forbes "Best of the Web" Pick * A Los Angeles Magazine Top Los Angeles Blog
"Really brave ... or really stupid" - NPR

THIS GUN FOR HIRE:
Reviews & Criticism