Literary Values for Online Content
In these days of media communication, words proliferate sometimes at the expense of depth.
I am the first advocate of functional communication: say what you've got to say, be factual, possibly exact, with proper expression. That's it.
Admittedly, I am not coping very well with the ocean of compelling content - must read this, must know that - I get so drunk with all the information suddenly at reach online that I have almost stopped to read proper literature, other than very short poetry.
Having devoted the last few years of my professional career to technology writing, I seem to have lost not only the ability to enjoy the pleasures of good reading, but of good writing too.
And for a writer, that's serious.
I concentrate so much in understanding complex information and try to relay it accurately and completely, that I tend to overlook the aesthetics, the form.
But substance without a form is like an
ectoplasm. Of dubious nature, to say the least.
Whether literary, scientific or technical, written works are universal instruments of discovery and communication.
Their qualities must be related to equally important opposed ones to achieve the sense of balance and equilibrium that makes any piece of writing a work of art in its own right.
In artistic and literary creations, it is often the tension between two opposing values that sets the rhythmical pace of narration.
Ultimately, it becomes a matter of style.
Below, a notation of indispensable literary values inspired by Italo Calvino, one of my
most precious masters. Translations rarely do justice, but it's the content that counts, right?
I'd like to recommend the adoption of some of these principles in web communication.
"Lightness" (leggerezza)
Not superficiality.
Gravity of existence has to be borne lightly if it is to be borne at all.
It opposes heavyness, weight.
"Rapidity" (rapidita')
The skill of combining action (Mercury) with contemplation (Saturn).
Relativity of time, rhythm of the phrase.
"An emperor in ancient China, asked the talented Cheng Zu to draw him a crab. Cheng Zu asked for a villa with twelve servants, and five years time. After five years. no sign of the drawing. He asked for five more years. After which, the emperor visited him.
He picked up a brush, and in a single instant drew the most perfect crab ever drawn"
Rapidity is opposed to pause
"Exactitude"
Clear, well planned design, neat incisive crisp images, precise language.
Opposed to vagueness.
"Visibility"
The visual imagination as an instrument for knowing the world and oneself.
The quality of visualisation and representation.
"Multiplicity"
The ability of a piece of writing to mean many things to different people, to be versatile
flexible and open.
Opposing univocal structures.
"Consistency"
Uniformity and coherence of language and thread. Opposed to eclecticism and arbitrary choice.
Calvino was set to give the series of lectures
to some prestigious Usa university, but he died prematurely, before he could write up the last lecture on the eve of his departure.
I wish he could hear me now, and advise me how to mutate the language to accommodate the endless transformations, evolution and acceleration in pace, without losing the purity and power of the word. Perhaps he would add a few more lessons...
pdm
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