John Holbo, guesting at CrookedTimber.org, writes: “I don’t think the blogosphere has thrown up nearly enough stylists of true distinction, incidentally. Do you?”
I concur with his basic point, though I have been wondering what it means to be a stylist of distinction in the blogosphere. Lileks is one example cited by Holbo and surely he writes very well. But I doubt if he is the core model for blogging prose.
There is no blogger we would compare with Keats or Montaigne for style. Perhaps style in the blogosphere is a bit like drama on TV. We perceive it only in cumulative fashion. (Few people “get” the very first episode of Seinfeld they see.) Over time we see how the mind of a single blogger evolves, how that mind deals with a variety of issues, and how that mind encounters the blogging of others. It is a kind of drama to see what a good blogger will come up with today. Recall that blogging is a new mixture of writing and editing. So the drama, and the accompanying stylistic interest, becomes most apparent over time. The “unit of style,” so to speak, is larger than the single post. It involves personality, perspective, and intellectual drama as much as it puts forth pleasing combinations of words. And the style spans all the chosen links, not just the written comments of the author.
Blogging style also has a visual element, the layout of the blog changes what kinds of idea presentation will look good on the screen. I love Eugene’s ongoing annotations of first amendment case law, and I suspect they are ideally suited to the long, “blocky” lines of the VC look. They would be less compelling in the tighter format of Wonkette.com, just as Wonkette’s short darts and quips would fare less well over here.
Holbo’s post, while long, is interesting throughout, and watch for his praise of Eugene. I also liked this line: “Blogging often has the courage to ignore the audience yet is seldom disrespectful to its audience, simply because its audience is highly idealized. It is the author’s own better nature.”
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