28 October 2007

Scott on literature and populist trash

Literature: books typically featuring little plot, characterisation, or structure but full of vaguely evocative prose hinting at hidden feelings of something or other. typically features a poor orphaned peasant child from a former USSR republic, abused by those around him, who find solace sitting by the village well looking at the clouds and dreaming of the day he can own a shiny new goat of his own.

Populist trash: books typically overloaded with so much plot that they practically leap out and slap you silly. often feature multiple story threads, characters with multiple (and occasionally conflicting) motivational story arcs, bounding leaps of logic, and, best of all, an immense sense of fun and enjoyment.

I like to read stuff that is fun and goes somewhere amazing, or at the very least interesting. i feel both those aspects are somewhat lacking in literature.

Literature:

'The cloud shadows moved over the prone form of Igorovich Kolopsky like the shifting veils of belly dancer, revealing and then hiding tantalising glimpses of his street orphan form. And yet, lost in the liquid haze of memory and the slow burning fire lit by his last hit of morphine, all that occupied his mind's eye was the image of his grandfather's favourite goat...'

Populist Trash:

'Detective Igorina Kolopsky moved like a panther, her black leather military police uniform clinging to her figure like a drunk and his bottle of methylated spirits. Observing the carnage wrought by the latest appearance of vampiric werewolf zombie fiends, she fingered the trigger of her ridiculously powerful handgun and licked her lips, causing the blood pressure to immediately spike in her fellow officers....'

"She moved like an oiled leopard on roller skates, gliding across the room with barely a squeak. He'd been following her for at least 2 hours now and he'd had to admit that she was good. He'd almost lost her in Picadilly Circus, when the moonlight had shone off her tightly leather clad arse and temporarily blinded him, but he'd been saved but a timely cloud and was able to pick up her trail again by following the comatose and drooling men left in her wake."

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