Anonymous
7/2/2025, 4:44:35 PM No.24514433
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Is the maximalist novel dead for the time being? - /lit/ (#24514433) [Archived: 841 hours ago]
Anonymous
7/2/2025, 4:50:51 PM No.24514453
A lot of these labels are just garbage used by critics to seem more insightful than they are. By grouping a bunch of works together and putting a label on it and calling it a movement, it makes it seem like something truly groundbreaking and pioneering occurred, a new frontier of human thought. It's wank.
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Anonymous
7/2/2025, 4:52:16 PM No.24514457
>>24514453
I don't think it was meant to be a movement. It's more like a type of novel.
I don't think it was meant to be a movement. It's more like a type of novel.
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Anonymous
7/2/2025, 4:54:48 PM No.24514463
>>24514433 (OP)
>big words hurt brain and internet is scawy
This guy sounds like a flaming homo. The reality is maximalism at the very least almost always avoids pedestrian language, the only counter example I can think of would be Ducks, Newburyport but it's written by a woman so what did you expect? A minimalist or "normal" novel is much much more likely to be full of cliches and pedestrian prose. The ethos of Maximalist prose is necessarily to cram as much as possible in a given space, and pedestrian language and cliches usually do not accomplish this, so the style itself does I think out limitations on how soulless or forgettable one can be.
>big words hurt brain and internet is scawy
This guy sounds like a flaming homo. The reality is maximalism at the very least almost always avoids pedestrian language, the only counter example I can think of would be Ducks, Newburyport but it's written by a woman so what did you expect? A minimalist or "normal" novel is much much more likely to be full of cliches and pedestrian prose. The ethos of Maximalist prose is necessarily to cram as much as possible in a given space, and pedestrian language and cliches usually do not accomplish this, so the style itself does I think out limitations on how soulless or forgettable one can be.
Anonymous
7/2/2025, 4:56:17 PM No.24514465
>>24514457
Maximalism is considered to be a movement in art that encompasses not just novels.
Maximalism is considered to be a movement in art that encompasses not just novels.
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Anonymous
7/2/2025, 5:04:13 PM No.24514479
>>24514465
Well, it wasn't really a movement in literature. Movements are organized groups and have members working towards similar aesthetics or following similar values. Writers who wrote so-called maximalist novels like Infinite Jest or 2666 never even met. They wrote long, "encyclopedic" books but that's about it.
Well, it wasn't really a movement in literature. Movements are organized groups and have members working towards similar aesthetics or following similar values. Writers who wrote so-called maximalist novels like Infinite Jest or 2666 never even met. They wrote long, "encyclopedic" books but that's about it.
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Anonymous
7/2/2025, 5:13:01 PM No.24514498
>>24514479
It's no different from many labels or movements in that many of the participants weren't organizing toward any commonly understood goal. That's my point. The label is used primarily so critics and the audience can have complicated thoughts and feelings about the 'movement' while not saying anything meaningful. The term maximalism and its associated ideas are in OP basically just enabling Brian Eveson to say that he doesn't like overly long, hyper specific, overly complicated books in a fancy way like he's commenting on something deeper. Good for Brian Eveson but he can fuck off.
It's no different from many labels or movements in that many of the participants weren't organizing toward any commonly understood goal. That's my point. The label is used primarily so critics and the audience can have complicated thoughts and feelings about the 'movement' while not saying anything meaningful. The term maximalism and its associated ideas are in OP basically just enabling Brian Eveson to say that he doesn't like overly long, hyper specific, overly complicated books in a fancy way like he's commenting on something deeper. Good for Brian Eveson but he can fuck off.
Anonymous
7/2/2025, 5:16:52 PM No.24514504
shhh be quiet or joseph mcelroy will come or bother us or something
Anonymous
7/2/2025, 10:11:51 PM No.24515253