It's unlikely that alga and Kevin will ever agree with
me about the inherent merits of Clute's prose style;
we keep accusing each other of missing the point,
which suggests we're doing far too much pointing. Let
me (with any luck) close this correspondence by saying
that, yes, Clute can muddy the waters terribly with
his Latinisms and Hellenisms, but that it's his use of
such stylistic mannerisms that makes his criticism
distinctive and (within limits) popular. If one is
familiar with these mannerisms (as many by now are),
one will recognize Clute's review of OBW as an attempt
to match Wolfe's content with an equivalent exuberance
of language, conveying the critic's aesthetic
excitement to the reader. So many other critics write
dull stodge, losing any excitement utterly in the
process; they're like hardware commentators
expatiating on the technical virtues of different
kinds of monkey wrench.
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