I'm going to be taking a Contemporary American Literature course this summer, so I'll be more educated on what I'm about to discuss: but what I want to discuss is what I've encountered with some American Literature I have come across so far, that is, tight prose.
There seems to me, a lack of bulk and unnecessary descriptions. The sentences seem to be concise and not as flowery as Russian, French, or British lit. To be Aristotelian about it, it seems that a lot of famous American literature doesn't add too much or too little, but just right.
Two authors that I can point to are Nabokov and King. Controversial authors in themselves, but I honestly think no one can accuse them of not having dynamite and logically clear prose.
To people more versed in American lit, do you think the ideas I'm exploring have some grain of truth? Does American literature tend to be less "bulky" and more to the point? I'm sure there are exceptions, so let's stick to All-Star authors and discuss them (Mark Twain for example).
There seems to me, a lack of bulk and unnecessary descriptions. The sentences seem to be concise and not as flowery as Russian, French, or British lit. To be Aristotelian about it, it seems that a lot of famous American literature doesn't add too much or too little, but just right.
Two authors that I can point to are Nabokov and King. Controversial authors in themselves, but I honestly think no one can accuse them of not having dynamite and logically clear prose.
To people more versed in American lit, do you think the ideas I'm exploring have some grain of truth? Does American literature tend to be less "bulky" and more to the point? I'm sure there are exceptions, so let's stick to All-Star authors and discuss them (Mark Twain for example).