"Ingeniously Bad Writing" (The Da Vinci Code)

0385504209Occasionally there is some book that hits it big and has all kinds of people praising how well it is written. I’m starting to get a reflective skepticism of such claims, because I’ve been burned too often by them.

I know, de gustibus non disputandum est, but some things are just poorly written.

This was what happened with the Harry Potter craze. People were going on and on about how well it was written, but when I read the first Harry Potter novel, I was stunned at how poor the writing was. I acknowledge that the book has some interesting ideas in it, but the way in which these ideas were given literary form was utterly incommensurate with the level of praise being heaped upon the book. It made me wonder about the people had who want to put J. K. Rowling up there with Shakespeare. Just how much exposure to literature did they have? Not much, if they thought that Harry Potter was the bee’s knees.

In case you haven’t read it or seen the movie, the basic plot of the first Harry Potter novel involves a young boy who has lost his parents and leads a dreary existence but who then discovers that he is the most famous, most important person in the world. Since readers typically identify with the protagonists of the books they are reading, it’s easy to use this premise as a ham-fisted, over-the-top, delusions-of-grandeur fantasy for the reader. Rowling has noted that she started writing the series while she was leading a rather dreary existence herself and working out her feelings over her divorce. Reading the first Harry Potter novel, I couldn’t help the feeling that on some level she was writing it for her own sons to atone for her divorce, giving them a marvelous escape fantasy from the realities of their broken family.

(If you want to read a sci-fi novel with a smilar premise that is more like what Harry Potter *should have been,* read Jerry Pournelle’s Starswarm.)

So when people started hyping how well written The Da Vinci Code is supposed to be, I was very suspicious. Once again, “interesting ideas” are delivered with an utter lack of literary style. The books is appalling written, but I don’t need to explain why because someone else already did.

Read this analysis from Language Log about Dan Brown’s incompetent wordsmithing.

Favorite quote:

“Brown’s writing is not just bad; it is staggeringly, clumsily, thoughtlessly, almost ingeniously bad.”

“Ingeniously Bad Writing” (The Da Vinci Code)

0385504209Occasionally there is some book that hits it big and has all kinds of people praising how well it is written. I’m starting to get a reflective skepticism of such claims, because I’ve been burned too often by them.

I know, de gustibus non disputandum est, but some things are just poorly written.

This was what happened with the Harry Potter craze. People were going on and on about how well it was written, but when I read the first Harry Potter novel, I was stunned at how poor the writing was. I acknowledge that the book has some interesting ideas in it, but the way in which these ideas were given literary form was utterly incommensurate with the level of praise being heaped upon the book. It made me wonder about the people had who want to put J. K. Rowling up there with Shakespeare. Just how much exposure to literature did they have? Not much, if they thought that Harry Potter was the bee’s knees.

In case you haven’t read it or seen the movie, the basic plot of the first Harry Potter novel involves a young boy who has lost his parents and leads a dreary existence but who then discovers that he is the most famous, most important person in the world. Since readers typically identify with the protagonists of the books they are reading, it’s easy to use this premise as a ham-fisted, over-the-top, delusions-of-grandeur fantasy for the reader. Rowling has noted that she started writing the series while she was leading a rather dreary existence herself and working out her feelings over her divorce. Reading the first Harry Potter novel, I couldn’t help the feeling that on some level she was writing it for her own sons to atone for her divorce, giving them a marvelous escape fantasy from the realities of their broken family.

(If you want to read a sci-fi novel with a smilar premise that is more like what Harry Potter *should have been,* read Jerry Pournelle’s Starswarm.)

So when people started hyping how well written The Da Vinci Code is supposed to be, I was very suspicious. Once again, “interesting ideas” are delivered with an utter lack of literary style. The books is appalling written, but I don’t need to explain why because someone else already did.

Read this analysis from Language Log about Dan Brown’s incompetent wordsmithing.

Favorite quote:

“Brown’s writing is not just bad; it is staggeringly, clumsily, thoughtlessly, almost ingeniously bad.”

"For English, Please Press 1"

As y’all know, I’m extremely language-friendly. I love other languages, and I love learning them. I think people should be encouraged to learn more (particularly Americans, who are notoriously monolingual).

But I agree with this editorial about the multicultural situation in Maryland.

English is the national language of the US, and efforts that weaken that need to be curbed.

I understand having multilingual access for certain vital services (e.g., having translators of common immigrant languages on staff at hospitals), but cultures don’t cohere well if they don’t have a common language, so apart from truly essential services, integration into the linguistic mainstream is to be encouraged.

I’m not asking anything here of others that I wouldn’t apply to myself. If I were living in Mexico, I would consider it my duty to beef up my Spanish skills as quickly as possible and wouldn’t expect government or business to do lots of things for me in English. If I were in Germany, I’d start hitting my Pimsleur German tapes. Even if I were living in France (shudder), I’d start studying French.

If (by some bizarre circumstance) I had become a citizen of another nation and had the right to vote, I especially wouldn’t consider it incumbent on that nation to print ballots in English just to accomodate me. If I couldn’t take the trouble to learn the local language well enough to vote in it, I wouldn’t consider myself well enough educated in local affairs to cast a vote responsibly. It would be better for me to withhold my vote. If I felt a pressing need to vote, I’d start studying the local language.

“For English, Please Press 1”

As y’all know, I’m extremely language-friendly. I love other languages, and I love learning them. I think people should be encouraged to learn more (particularly Americans, who are notoriously monolingual).

But I agree with this editorial about the multicultural situation in Maryland.

English is the national language of the US, and efforts that weaken that need to be curbed.

I understand having multilingual access for certain vital services (e.g., having translators of common immigrant languages on staff at hospitals), but cultures don’t cohere well if they don’t have a common language, so apart from truly essential services, integration into the linguistic mainstream is to be encouraged.

I’m not asking anything here of others that I wouldn’t apply to myself. If I were living in Mexico, I would consider it my duty to beef up my Spanish skills as quickly as possible and wouldn’t expect government or business to do lots of things for me in English. If I were in Germany, I’d start hitting my Pimsleur German tapes. Even if I were living in France (shudder), I’d start studying French.

If (by some bizarre circumstance) I had become a citizen of another nation and had the right to vote, I especially wouldn’t consider it incumbent on that nation to print ballots in English just to accomodate me. If I couldn’t take the trouble to learn the local language well enough to vote in it, I wouldn’t consider myself well enough educated in local affairs to cast a vote responsibly. It would be better for me to withhold my vote. If I felt a pressing need to vote, I’d start studying the local language.

New Anti-Spam Provision Takes Effect

The Federal Trade Commission is now requiring the subject-line labelling of sexually explicit spam, as well as not putting porno pictures where they will automatically start loading in the preview pane of your e-mail client.

No doubt, many will disregard this law and use servers outside the US to evade the requirement, but if it cuts down on the sexually explicit junk mail clogging the nation’s e-mail boxes even a little, it will be worth it.

In this article on the subject, a lawyer for the porno spam purveyors is yelping about freedom of speech.

I’m sorry, but no.

My e-mail account is a private forum (else everyone in the world would be entitled to read my e-mail), just as my postal mailbox is. Freedom of speech does not give anybody the right to cram my postal mailbox or my e-mail account with offensive messages that I didn’t ask for and don’t want.

To send such items to me over my objection is mail harrassment, and I hope the people who commit it are prosecuted to the full extent of the law (which I hope is further strengthened from where it is now).

Genetic Privacy Rights

It isn’t often that I’d agree with something published in an editorial in a British newspaper, but I do agree with this one. I’ve been concerned for some time about the implications of genetic privacy, and if we want to keep from being victimized (e.g., by being denied insurance or employment) on account of our genetic profile, we need to get a system of strong genetic privacy laws in place.

Everybody has a gene that predisposes them to something bad lurking somewhere in their genetic code.

X-File Law

A thoughtful editorial by a law professor on the impact that new technologies (particularly new reproductive technologies) are having and will continue to have in the future. Raises a lot of questions that need answering.

Also mentions a TV show (Century City) that it sounds like I’m going to have to check out.

Favorite quote from the editorial:

I asked my law students whether a person with plant or animal genes would still be protected by the US Constitution. One replied, “If it walks like a man, quacks like a man, and photosynthesizes like a man, it is a man.”