Date Posted:18:42 Author: Hendrik - 16 Jun 2001 Subject: Re: SRF machinations In reply to:
ketch - 16 Jun 2001
's message, "Re: SRF machinations" on 18:40
Sometimes I am watching the literature debates on TV.
The problem about novels that is complained about often nowadays is that they are just too long. Very few novels are really good, but most writers stretch them to 500, 800, 1000, or more pages, probably to make forget the lack in quality of content. The mechanism is: Once you have eaten 30 hot dogs in a row, you are not likely to remember whether the taste did really satisfy your tongue or not; a sort of barrage tactics.
The literature critics openly complain about the suffering they have to endure having to read novels that are both too long and poorly written, and appeal to the writers to please compose shorter works in future.
But the writers don't pay any heed to such appeals. It speaks for Norman Paulsen when he cuts down the length of his book to the still considerable size of 500 pages, but this still raises a question: What was in the lost 100 pages, and why did he decide to omit them in the later edition? 14 years of spiritual experience have passed, and actually the book should have grown to at least 800 pages instead of shrinking to 500. So what has happened? Has Norman Paulsen arrived at the state beyond experience, or does he just have mercy upon us poor ones? On his photographs he looks quite likeable, so I opt for the latter explanation.
Statistically, the next edition published should run for only 400 pages or so, and this means that half of the way towards an enjoyable edition of 'Sunburst' will be done.
