tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31265055.post2418911904304081420..comments2023-09-20T14:18:32.900+02:00Comments on Obscene Desserts: The black-magic love-gurus of MayfairJCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31265055.post-29086156926850385092009-02-06T23:07:00.000+01:002009-02-06T23:07:00.000+01:00Thanks, Dale. In reading quite a lot of late '20s ...Thanks, Dale. <BR/><BR/>In reading quite a lot of late '20s newspapers over the last few years, I have been repeatedly astounded by the quality of some of the writing.<BR/><BR/>Not that it's necessarily 'good writing' in terms of content (there was a lot of melodramatic twaddle in the more popular papers) but in terms of what seems a sophisticated vocabulary and ear for euphonious rhythm. <BR/><BR/>There was also an enormous <I>amount</I> of text in these papers. Photographs were already a common feature, and they might take up a fifth to a quarter of some inside pages. (The age of the photo-bedecked front page had definitely already arrived.) But still, there were a lot of words there to get through. (The <I>WPN</I> was a weekly paper, though, and while some of its recipients might have had a radio, none would have spent the evening watching TV. There were probably fewer competitors for what leisure time they had might have had.) <BR/><BR/>This was, keep in mind, a paper aimed at a predominantly working-class and often rural audience. <BR/><BR/>While interwar papers contained their share of junk 'news'--mainly to do with celebrities, 'orrible murder, and melodrama--compared to today's <I>Sun</I> or <I>Mail</I> they made for rather interesting literature.<BR/><BR/>I find reading <I>modern</I> British tabloids to be a seriously depressing experience.JCWoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31265055.post-50636760166691289012009-02-06T22:25:00.000+01:002009-02-06T22:25:00.000+01:00I do love the writing style -- this passage alone ...I do love the writing style -- this passage alone is inconceivable in any modern-day journalism: <BR/><BR/><I>One glance at the "master" as he adjusted his scarlet and gold robe before sitting on his throne in the centre of a circle marked on the floor revealed him as a middle-aged intellectual.</I><BR/><BR/>Of course, it well might lose its charm if we started seeing more of it.Dalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10523307255698594696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31265055.post-38397065192567111902009-02-05T20:35:00.000+01:002009-02-05T20:35:00.000+01:00Thanks, Geoff.Yes, putting smart into quotes is a ...Thanks, Geoff.<BR/><BR/>Yes, putting smart into quotes is a cutting move. <BR/><BR/>I am astonished, sometimes, by the level of language in the <I>World's Pictorial News</I>, which I've quoted from before. <BR/><BR/>This was a paper pretty much down toward the more 'tabloid' end of the press spectrum for its time, but there was a <I>lot</I> of text in these papers (though a few photos on every page) and the language was relatively sophisticated. <BR/><BR/>Compared with today's <I>Sun</I> or <I>Mail</I>, it's sophisticated...JCWoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31265055.post-45283002531081091502009-02-05T19:17:00.000+01:002009-02-05T19:17:00.000+01:00Wonderful! Plus ça change, and all that... I love ...Wonderful! Plus ça change, and all that... I love the way in which the adjective "smart" can be read as practically its opposite in all senses of the word.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com