“In reading exam papers written by misled students, of both sexes, about this or that author, I have often come across such phrases–probably recollections from more tender years of schooling–as ‘his style is simple’ or ‘his style is clear and simple’ or ‘his style is beautiful and simple’ or ‘his style is quite beautiful and simple.’ But remember that ‘simplicity’ is buncombe. No major writer is simple. The Saturday Evening Post is simple. Journalese is simple. Upton Lewis is simple. Mom is simple. Digests are simple. Damnation is simple. But Tolstoys and Melvilles are not simple.”
Vladimir Nabokov, Lectures on Russian Literature (courtesy of The Rat)
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
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