Hey Veeky Forums, I've recently been pondering a conversation I had with a friend who claimed that I had defensively intellectual prose that was not only difficult to follow, but at times reductive and over-embellished. I've considered this habit of mine to be a result of the insessant anxiety to prove myself as cabable and "smart enough" that finds itself in my childhood, as I was one of the many kids with "ADHD" that was required to stay in special education classes. I believe that because of this I have a deeply rooted anxious compulsion to prove myself as intellectually capable if not superior to those that wish to debate and/or enact discourse with me. I've since "graduated" from special education a long time ago (about 18 years) but still find hyperactive tendencies in the way I learn and create/consume knowledge; this also effects my ability to relate and converse with others. Does anyone have any tips on how to mitigate these kinds of anxieties as well as "simplify" academic writing that deals with highly complex concepts and themes?
Additionally, if the concern written above is irrelevant and/or uninteresting, what's your opinion of Jacques Lacan? Love him? Hate him? Feel ambivalent about him? I've really enjoyed getting to know his work in the past years, but most of those I converse with that have likeminded interests in literature/philosophy despise his structuralist tenets. Additionally and perhaps coincidently, I know he his disliked for his notoriously "difficult" prose.
Zachary Evans
weak b8 m8
Nathaniel Bennett
Discuss/deb8, don't h8 m8.
Kayden Ortiz
The real achievement is to communicate thought in a clear, condensed matter. There is great beauty in reductionism
Benjamin Stewart
>what's your opinion on lacan this picture is my opinion on Lacan. Try to actually write down your thoughts and then reread them days/weeks later and see if you can understand them. If you can comprehend your own writing, see if you can rewrite it, or speak of it differently, or in a simpler manner.
Oliver Kelly
I wonder if there exists such a great scholar and lecturer on Lacan in the West as is Alexandr Smulanskiy here in Russia.
Isaiah Torres
"Those who know that they are profound strive for clarity. Those who would like to seem profound to the crowd strive for obscurity"
Connor Clark
Thanks m8s. I've been keeping a journal to study my writing habits.
John Flores
If your post is any indication of your writing style, I wouldn't describe it as difficult.
Want to give us an example of your "difficult" prose, so we can judge whether your friend is stupid or if you have a problem?
Robert Smith
I attempted to be as clear as possible when composing my post so that I could get the advice I wanted from others. I don't believe my friend is stupid. In fact, she is acclaimed to be a genius of sorts to those she interacts with (whether they be professors or peers). But sure, let me format some of my writing to post.
Lincoln Murphy
Posting more of the essay.
Gavin Clark
...
Eli Price
...
Aiden Campbell
...
Christopher Brown
...
Easton Cooper
...
Dylan Reed
Hopefully this helps.
Jordan Anderson
I mean, it could use an editting pass to remove unnecessary phrases, but I don't think it's terrible by any means.
I'd turn "profound power of words" to "power of words". I'd cut the second sentence, unless the focus of this essay is to define what is and isn't tragedy. "Much is speculated as to why this play is tragic"- cut that. Instead write something like "For our purposes, Antigone is a tragedy because...". I'd cut "After all".
Just go through this, and try to remove as much as you can without losing meaning. Identify what is tangential and what is important to the thesis. Look for filler phrases, conversational phrases. Look for unnecessary facts like "written by sophocles" or even "Ancient Greek Tragedy". I think you can assume your reader knows what Antigone is, otherwise they have no business reading this in the first place.
As for your psychoanalyzing in your first post, I don't think this has to be about any deeper conflict between your education history and need to prove self worth. You're just imitating certain writing styles, vocab and turns of phrase you've found useful. Try reading more newspapers, or listening to mass broadcasts like the BBC or NPR, I've found that simply filling my brain with "simple journalism", is a great way to reduce clutter in my writing, on a subconscious level.
Ryder Morales
This was good to hear. Thanks user.
Joseph Russell
yeah, no problem. I mostly write for magazines, with a 500-1000 word count limit. So I've had to pay attention to word count and phrasing quite a bit. It's a handy skill that you don't really pick up in school, where essay word counts tend be 2000+.
Anthony Collins
Oh yeah? How's that gig? Are you employed at the publication? Or do you frequently submit? I never thought of reading journalistic writings as a practice in condensing. Any specific publications your recommend?
