Just to give you a data point from a non-native speaker who likes literature and languages, this quote wasn’t a joy to read for me since it would have taken me a very long time to understand what this is about if I would not have known the context. So I am not sure what you mean by the best linguistic traditions – I think simple language can be elegant too.
It is a more joyful sentence in the context, admittedly.
Simple language can be elegant, of course, and there are excellent writers with a range of different styles and levels of simplicity. I wouldn’t dream of saying that everyone should be striving for 200-word sentences, nor that we should be imitating Victorian-era philosophy, but I do think that the trends of relentless simplifying and trimming that editors and style guides foist upon budding writers have diminished the English language.
Just to give you a data point from a non-native speaker who likes literature and languages, this quote wasn’t a joy to read for me since it would have taken me a very long time to understand what this is about if I would not have known the context. So I am not sure what you mean by the best linguistic traditions – I think simple language can be elegant too.
It is a more joyful sentence in the context, admittedly.
Simple language can be elegant, of course, and there are excellent writers with a range of different styles and levels of simplicity. I wouldn’t dream of saying that everyone should be striving for 200-word sentences, nor that we should be imitating Victorian-era philosophy, but I do think that the trends of relentless simplifying and trimming that editors and style guides foist upon budding writers have diminished the English language.