Stephen King: Can a Novelist Be Too Productive? (2015)

Re:Stephen King: Can a Novelist Be Too Productive? (2015) by IIIIIIIIII on Thursday June 14, 2018 @04:27AM (#17310243)

I've tried to read King a few times over the years. I couldn't get over the lack of prose style and find him to be a craftsman of plots that (other) people are enthralled by, but not much of a writer. This is what happens when you're raised in your literary interests by the likes of Joyce and Proust, perhaps. If I'm a snob so be it. When I heard Harlan Ellison wrote novels in bookstore windows in a matter of days I thought "that makes sense."

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Re:Stephen King: Can a Novelist Be Too Productive? (2015) by stupidcar on Thursday June 14, 2018 @04:54AM (#17310343)

Speaking as a relative non-snob, I'm always a bit baffled when people cite Joyce like this. I mean, he clearly had an unrivalled mastery of language, but do people actually like reading prose like that? Even his supposedly more accessible stuff like Dubliners and Portrait of the Artist just seemed so dense and obtuse that while I could objectively admire the skill on display, I never once really found myself enjoying them.

I'm not saying art should exist purely for the sake of entertainment. But, ultimately, if I'm investing the time to read a book, I need to get something out of the experience from moment to moment, and generally I find I get more from reading a bad writer with fun ideas than an expert stylist who makes no concessions to enjoyment.

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Re:Stephen King: Can a Novelist Be Too Productive? (2015) by Mediterraneo10 on Thursday June 14, 2018 @06:57AM (#17310724)

Bloomsday celebrations frequently include reading Ulysses aloud where a series of people have a go at it. They love Joyce's prose and want to share the music of it with others. It is OK if it is not your thing, but there is certainly an audience out there who sincerely love Ulysses in all its facets.

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Re:Stephen King: Can a Novelist Be Too Productive? (2015) by bshepard on Thursday June 14, 2018 @06:14AM (#17310581)

There is a way to find great pleasure in Joyce, it does require effort and education, but so do many other pleasures. Terence McKenna's "Surfing Finnegan's Wake" is a good way in, especially if you enjoy McKenna's weirdly-similar-to-George-Bush's voice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpeq91hK1Gk

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Re:Stephen King: Can a Novelist Be Too Productive? (2015) by Chris_Jay on Thursday June 14, 2018 @09:34AM (#17311531)

funny - King actually has a quote on this that stuck with me quite a while.

"Some books you read for the story. Don't be like the snobs who won't read a book for the story. Some books you read for the words. Don't be the kind of person who won't read a book for the words either. But when you find a book that you read for the words and the story... treasure that book".

I certainly agree with your assessment that one wouldn't read a King book for the words, but as someone who really likes the scifi-fantasy genre, that's not a standard to which I can afford to hold the authors I read...

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