Clumsy Writing

Yesterday I came across A Reader's Manifesto by B.R. Myers. My literary reading has increased lately, so finding this essay was incredibly timely and relevant. Myers challenges the modern literary elite to return to a natural prose style. His examples help a novice literary reader understand the pervasive mediocrity in modern writing.

The only way out is to look back to a time when authors had more to say than "I'm a Writer!"; when the novel wasn't just a 300-page caption for the photograph on the inside jacket. A reorientation toward tradition would benefit writers no less than readers....Whatever happens, the old American scorn for pretension is bound to reassert itself someday, and dear God, let it be soon.
--B.R. Myers