Re[4]: [at-l] RE: Bryson's Book

[jbryankramer@msn.com (J Bryan Kramer)]

Well not to state the obvious, but the folks you know and your local
bookstores might have a bit of regional interest about Walden. Just like the
Yearling is popular here. And there are lots of books bought and never read.
I read lots of books from the same time period and I find most of them are
much better written than Walden. Indeed there is something called Literary
Writing (always with the Caps) that is supposed to be so much better than
plain everyday best seller type writing. According to the critics that is,
Literary Writing produces books that one can carry around and be seen with
as opposed to a book that you actually enjoy reading. The Atlantic had some
articles about this style of writing and I thought that they hit the nail on
the head.

Bryan

> -----Original Message-----
>
> "...Yeah  it  (Walden)  is  small  and so boringly dense and
> obtuse that you can
> never finish it." reports J. Bryan Kramer.
>
> I  guess that must be why it still sells thousands of copies a
> year and I've yet
> to  see  a bookstore that fails to have a copy on its shelves.
> One has to search
> for  the  other  "classics"  of that era. Only Walden seems to
> have a continuing
> broad audience.
>
> I've  often thought the reason may be the message and the skill
> with which it is
> delivered.  A  mixture  of  seriousness  and subtle humor. But J.
> Bryan may have
> discovered something about Walden that us denser folks have missed.
>