Late 19th/early 20th century writers with contemporary style prose?

vgunn · May 22, 2013

Wondering who were some authors that used what would be a more modern style? Can be from any genre, I know that some pulp writers wrote more staccato, punchy prose. Were there any that were ahead of their time and the writing which by today's standards (I know this is a broad stroke) doesn't sound dated?

Not sure if this is the right sub-forum, so mods feel free to move it if there is a better place

mirandashell · May 22, 2013

I'm not sure what you're asking here. You mean, a novel that was written in 1910 but reads like it was written yesterday?

May I ask why you want to know this?

Diomedes · May 22, 2013

Jerome K. Jerome - Three Men in a Boat

PG Wodehouse

Little Anonymous Me · May 22, 2013

They wrote plenty modern in the early 20th century...for the early 20th century. Why don't you just pick up some modern historical fiction instead? I'm really confused about why you want old writing to sound like new writing.

vgunn · May 22, 2013

mirandashell said:
I'm not sure what you're asking here. You mean, a novel that was written in 1910 but reads like it was written yesterday?

May I ask why you want to know this?

Exactly. Just the style of the prose, not the period.

I know Hemingway was one of the first to shed the florid style common in Victorian Era prose to something much more concise.

The reason I'm asking is because I don't know of others who were doing the same and hoping someone here can enlighten me

mirandashell · May 22, 2013

Ah! Now that makes more sense! LOL!

You want sparse as opposed to flowery. Ok then.

vgunn · May 22, 2013

Diomedes said:
Jerome K. Jerome - Three Men in a Boat

PG Wodehouse

Thank you. Very helpful!

I've never read Three Men in a Boat, just starting it now. Looks like it will be entertaining.

vgunn · May 22, 2013

mirandashell said:
Ah! Now that makes more sense! LOL!

You want sparse as opposed to flowery. Ok then.

Yes

mirandashell · May 22, 2013

Diary of a Nobody is pretty good. Can't remember the author though.

job · May 22, 2013

Here are some earlish C20 writers who sound very 'modern'.

Mark Twain
Arthur Conan Doyle
John Steinbeck
Dorothy Sayers
Agatha Christie
Virginia Woolf
Dashiell Hammett
George Bernard Shaw
Raymond Chandler

job · May 23, 2013

Diomedes said:
Jerome K. Jerome - Three Men in a Boat

Have you read the delightful To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis?

James D. Macdonald · May 23, 2013

Robert W. Chambers.

Deleted member 42 · May 23, 2013

vgunn said:
The reason I'm asking is because I don't know of others who were doing the same and hoping someone here can enlighten me

I'd go to your local library and look for the Oxford or Bedford or Norton Anthology of American Lit; they all have pretty good understandable intros on prose style by era.

I'd look at Dreiser, London, Crane, Dos Passos, as well as the others mentioned. Willa Cather is later and so is Eudora Welty, but I'd look at 'em.

I'd look at James, but gingerly—he's the opposite of what you want, but it might be illuminating

Diomedes · May 23, 2013

Franz Kafka too! But then the translations might be in a modern style...certainly Zola reads very different in modern translations to the original French.

southbel · May 23, 2013

Medievalist said:
I'd go to your local library and look for the Oxford or Bedford or Norton Anthology of American Lit; they all have pretty good understandable intros on prose style by era.

I'd look at Dreiser, London, Crane, Dos Passos, as well as the others mentioned. Willa Cather is later and so is Eudora Welty, but I'd look at 'em.

I'd look at James, but gingerly—he's the opposite of what you want, but it might be illuminating

Have the Bedford Anthology of American Lit sitting on my nightstand right now. Would definitely recommend. Has such a wonderful breadth of work in it and would be beneficial to most people, I believe.

sohalt · May 23, 2013

job said:
Here are some earlish C20 writers who sound very 'modern'.

Mark Twain
Arthur Conan Doyle
John Steinbeck
Dorothy Sayers
Agatha Christie
Virginia Woolf
Dashiell Hammett
George Bernard Shaw
Raymond Chandler

I love Virgina Woolf, but if he's looking for sparse as opposed to "flowery", she's really not the first who comes to mind...

mirandashell · May 23, 2013

Hell no! Woolf is the inventor of 'stream of consciousness', wasn't she?

Deleted member 42 · May 23, 2013

sohalt said:
I love Virgina Woolf, but if he's looking for sparse as opposed to "flowery", she's really not the first who comes to mind...

It depends on what of hers you look at; she has a number of different styles.

job · May 23, 2013

Medievalist said:
It depends on what of hers you look at; she has a number of different styles.

But it's a 'modern' voice, rather than a 'Victorian' voice, IMO. I don't think PO is looking for laconic and sparse prose, so much as prose with modern sensibilities -- if I'm understanding him, which I may not be.

vgunn · May 24, 2013

job said:
But it's a 'modern' voice, rather than a 'Victorian' voice, IMO. I don't think PO is looking for laconic and sparse prose, so much as prose with modern sensibilities -- if I'm understanding him, which I may not be.

I'd say a bit of both

vgunn · May 24, 2013

Medievalist said:
I'd go to your local library and look for the Oxford or Bedford or Norton Anthology of American Lit; they all have pretty good understandable intros on prose style by era.

I'd look at Dreiser, London, Crane, Dos Passos, as well as the others mentioned. Willa Cather is later and so is Eudora Welty, but I'd look at 'em.

I'd look at James, but gingerly—he's the opposite of what you want, but it might be illuminating

Thanks!

vgunn · May 24, 2013

James D. Macdonald said:
Robert W. Chambers.

Loved The King in Yellow.

Lady Ice · May 25, 2013

F. Scott Fitzgerald. William Faulkner- maybe Light in August as that's more accessible. E.M Forster is quite accessible. Also D.H Lawrence, who can still ruffle a few feathers.

Virginia Woolf and other experimental modernists do sound dated. Modernism was a movement belonging to a particular era, rather than simply being writers who sound modern.

Late 19th/early 20th century writers with contemporary style prose?

vgunn

mirandashell

Diomedes

Little Anonymous Me

vgunn

mirandashell

vgunn

vgunn

mirandashell

job

In the end, it's just you and the manuscript

job

In the end, it's just you and the manuscript

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle

Deleted member 42

Diomedes

southbel

Bless Your Heart

sohalt

mirandashell

Deleted member 42

job

In the end, it's just you and the manuscript

vgunn

vgunn

vgunn

Lady Ice

Makes useful distinctions