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Do you think he is saying Shakespeare or Wordsworth or any great novelist should have written in this style?
by randomsearch 6y ago
Do you think he is saying Shakespeare or Wordsworth or any great novelist should have written in this style?
- throwawaygh 6y agoI think he is talking about a lot more than essays and business writing. Beyond that, I can't say much. I do not know Paul Graham and haven't even read all of his essays. There are certainly people who don't like Shakespeare's style. I don't know if Graham is one of those people. He could have written a slightly clunkier essay that allowed me to understand with greater detail the entire collection of types of writing that he is discussing. He didn't want to write that essay, which is of course fine. To be clear, I'm not "for" or "against" any writing style for the same reason that I don't get into religious wars about programming languages. I think this is a good essay with some solid advice for many different types of writers. But it's also, ironically, an essay that can be used to demonstrate why one might sometimes choose to write a bit less simply. Or, to write simply (plain words and simple sentences) but without trying to "jump into the reader's brain without them noticing". It's really the combination of "Write Simply" and "saltintesta" that I think deserved at least a bit of a "well, sure, but realize this approach can be a footgun".