Longform writing – whistling in the wind

I might see this day before I die, the day when longform writing and longform reading come back into fashion. They are sure not here right now.

I found myself reading, by accident, a translation of “La Dame aux Camélias” – a subject that I was not at all interested in. But it was the beauty of the writing, even in translation, that got me in.  Obviously a generational thing. My grandchildren would not be seen dead clutching such a book, or indeed, any book.

Language now is short, colourful, dramatic, often rather meaningless. But who cares? Ya gotta make an impact. Some sort of impact. Exciting, fun, or whatever. This is what the digital age is doing to our minds.

Fortunately, there are quite a lot of rescue systems. I think that here in Australia we are blessed with education systems that might be inadequate in some ways, but do allow for kids to have some time out in nature, sometimes in activities that happen in the absence of mobile phones. On the trains, I see some people reading books. High petrol prices might have encouraged people onto trains. Who knows? But at least, reading is possible on a train.

It is symptomatic of the crisis-ridden nature of our age. It really is not possible to get a sensible grip on current affairs without paying attention to detail. The prevailing very short torm communication does not allow for detail. And it often does not allow for logic either. The meaning of words gets blurred.

I confess to being a linguistic fascist. I see words like “incredible” used to mean excellent, wonderful –   although the word really means “cannot be believed.” I see the word “only” being used in strange ways, when it means ‘just this one.” And there’s grammar –  punctuation is almost completely removed as an old-fashioned waste of time. I want it back, because fascistic as it might be, punctuation does help us to understand meaning.

One day, an aberrant mosquito, or targeted AI, is going to hit some satellite and suddenly stop everything digital. After the chaos, people are going to have to relearn arithmetic, and old-fashioned language skills so that real communication happens again. Then we might find that sensible discussion about current affairs can become prevalent, with consideration of the needs and perspectives of the people involved, and acknowledgment of the historical details. My favourite hobby-horse about this is the controversy about the war in Ukraine. But there are plenty of other issues. Those of us who tediously write longform stuff are now whistling in the wind. But, maybe later?