>prose in American literature has been going downhill since the 50s
>prose can be evocative and lucid; using nonsensical metaphors with the excuse of evoking feelings in the reader is poor writing (Annie Proulx)
>dressing up uninteresting or incorrect observations with hundreds of words of dull imagery in hopes that the reader second-guesses themself does not make them worth reading, true, or profound (Don DeLillo)
>using unnatural language for no purpose other than appearing different and making the writing seem more difficult than it is is pretentious (Cormac McCarthy)
>referencing ambiguous fundamental truths and unknowns to make the reader feel they are missing something is shallow writing (Paul Auster)
Was Myers right, /lit/? Obviously the literary establishment does not care about these books anymore, but they are still well-regarded here. Blood Meridian gets 20 threads every day and the other authors are usually listed when discussing American literature.

>>24507680 (OP)
People who mention prose quality are usually too dumb to interact with theme.

>>24507680 (OP)
>prose in American literature has been going downhill since the 50s

Major Publisher cartels' bad taste. Not getting Line & Developmental Editors for the good material they're not vetting (or proactively filtering out).

>Annie Proulx

Cargo Cult Cormac, more or less on target-- chasing effects, tactical rather than strategic syntax.

>using unnatural language for no purpose other than appearing different and making the writing seem more difficult than it is is pretentious (Cormac McCarthy)

Apt for everything between Outer Dark and Child of God, increasingly dubious thereafter.

>(Paul Auster)

Blew his wad with the trilogy. "If I have to read another [New Yorker] novel ..." Poor slob's Beckett and Borges.

>>24507680 (OP)
Myers is a retarded north Korea apologist btw

>>24507680 (OP)
I've never seen someone more filtered. How do you get filtered by Proulx and Auster of all people??

>>24507680 (OP)
Some of his criticisms are merited, but now his view is so accepted that dull, dry-ass prose is the dominant paradigm. Thanks for nothing, bitch

>>24507741
Based

>>24509572
I don't think he was responsible for that.

>>24507680 (OP)
His take down of Dellilo's White Noise is really funny. I don't agree with all of his criticisms of Auster, Proulx, or even McCarthy, but I generally share his sentiments.

>>24512024
His statement about DeLillo rang especially true. I was frustrated with Underworld because I was hundreds of pages in and most of it is boring slop. When I realized it's meant to be skimmed and I'm not missing anything deep or profound it ironically made it more enjoyable because I get to the good scenes faster.

>>24512743
I haven't read Underworld, but from Libra and White Noise, I get the impression that he started a novel with a couple of passages in mind and just couldn't fill in the gaps between them.

>>24507680 (OP)
yes

>>24507680 (OP)
>manifesto
there is that word again