Novels with beautiful prose

[Sophelia]

Oh, I love this board!

Thank you for all these suggestions. Here are my reflections so far, in case that helps trigger more suggestions…

Maid Sansa: My obligatory answer here is Jane Austen.

Alas, I find myself quite unable to read her books. I appreciate that she is a great writer, but I never liked smalltalk in real life, let alone in fiction, however revealing of the mores of the time. I guess I’m just not a very subtle person. I can see the benefits of studying historical authors though, in case I decide to adopt a more authentic style. I have been reading Daniel Defoe for that reason, though I haven’t seen his prose style remarked on.

Interesting that williamjm mentioned Susannah Clarke. I am currently reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, and (as I mentioned in the What Are You Reading thread) am only mildly diverted by it. In reviews it is said to be written in the style of Jane Austen. I’m not sure about that, but she has certainly taken some pains to use authentic sounding-dialogue and historical versions of words like ‘shew’ and ‘colick’. I have chosen to go down the route of using a slightly old-fashioned style (I am slightly old-fashioned myself). I use modern syntax and spelling, but carefully avoid words which originate from after the historical period I am emulating (1750s). Hmm – I must start a thread on this on the BwB writers group…

Ashara: From the fantasy world, I would recommend G.G. Kay. I think that he had achieved what most beginner writers are *trying* and failing miserably to do. He makes the purple style work and turn it into an elegant, sparkling show of mastery. He mesmerizes me.

I’ve only read one of his (Song for Arbonne), but given how often others, such as Tigana, are recommended, I think I might put these on my Christmas list. I feared when I was younger that I had a tendency towards purple prose, and have spent years trying to bleach it out. What you say is interesting. Makes me wonder if I have suppressed parts of my own ‘voice’ which could be better harnessed.

Jay Tomio: I think when your talking about stylists the name that comes to my mind instantly is Mervyn Peake. Regarding authors currently, I really think Catherynne M Valente has the most aluring andc captivating prose I have read in a very long time. ... Nobody that I haves een lately fills her books from start to end with prose like Valente. China Mieville is capable of some of the most baroque and image inducing passages I have read, but Valente is continuous.

Regarding classical authors, I think Thomas Wolfe (Look Homeward Angel) and Thomas Mann.

Thanks Jay - you are one of the people I was really hoping would reply. Mervyn Peake happens to be one of my favourite authors ever, but it is interesting that on thia board there are a substantial number of people who find his prose really difficult, so I wasn’t expecting to see his name mentioned. But the fact that you have done so gives me a wonderful excuse to indulge myself in another reread.

I’ve never heard of Valente, but you have whetted my appetite. *goes to put in an amazon order* Yes, it is the continuousness of a style which appears to me. Previously I have been bowled over by the prose style of Robin Hobb, R. Scott Bakker and Janny Wurts, but they don’t seem to be widely praised for their prose. Hobbs and Bakker are applauded for other reasons, and Wurts hardly ever mentioned, so I question my judgement. I’ll look for Wolfe and Mann in the library. China Mieville is on my list of authors to buy at least one book by (probably PST).

Angalin: Sophelia, I've been having a ton of fun with Nancy Mitford's "The Pursuit of Love" lately. Witty, sharp, well-drawn characters... and snobbish as all hell. Love it.

Angalin: I'd say it depends on what kind of thing you yourself are working on, to a degree. Realistic? Fantastic? Sad? Funny? Not to say that you can't learn a lot from authors writing in a different genre than yours, but there's no harm in learning from the masters in your own. I'm working on the text for a children's picture book, so when I read to my children, I'm hyperaware of how another author puts it together.

Good question, Angalin. I’m just finishing off a sword-and-sorcery type fantasy set in the early eighteenth century. It’s supposed to be mainly a character-driven adventure story, not tragic, but with some philosophy and despair as well as humour. Lucretia would call it ‘fluff’. I plan to continue writing novels set in the same world and time-period but need to evaluate my own strengths and weaknesses before deciding what style of novel to tackle next. I am planning something based around domestic servants in a large household, so maybe more ‘drawing room’ style books would give me some ideas. I’ve been trying to read both fantasy novels (as you say, to be aware of how other authors approach the genre), and primary sources from that period in history.

Pellegrina: Anything by Sylvia Townsend Warner; my favourite is Lolly Willowes. I can't describe what appeals to me so about her prose, but she just changes the way you look at the world. Her short stories aren't special to me in the way that particular novel is - I've never really liked short stories that much - but always beautifully written.

Thanks Pellegrina – there’s another author I’ve never heard of. Be sure I’ll be looking for some reviews, and it could be another one for the amazon list. I wonder though if it is her prose which has such an effect on you, or her characterisation or something else (if I am making any sense – it’s hard to separate out the characters from the words which are used to describe them!). I’m intrigued. Guess I’ll have to read it for myself.

Monboddo: Gore Vidal, Samuel R. Delaney, Alexander Jablokov, Donna Tartt, Harlan Ellison, Winston Churchill, Mary Renault . . . those are just the ones off the top of my head.

There’s a list! Now you make me do the work of finding out what makes their prose special. (OK, I am already familiar with a couple of them) Hmm. I’m thinking I should photocopy a page from each so I have lots of examples to compare. That would be an interesting exercise. (I have limited time to read books, as I write in my free time – when I have any free time – so I tend to only get 30 mins before bedtime).

Dylanfanatic: I'll second the Thomas Wolfe and Thomas Mann references, then throw in Alejo Carpentier and Gabriel García Márquez to the mix. Then toss in a dash of Hemingway ( to those troglodytes that hate him ) and FitzGerald, shake with some Saul Bellow and I'll have myself a nice, yummy cocktail to read!

Aha – another person I was hoping to hear from. OK, I always take note when two people say the same thing, so Wolfe and Mann are now on my ‘try and find in bookshop or if not, amazon, list’. Márquez I am already familiar with, though I don’t own anything by him and should, because the whole magical realism thing really resonated with me – he conveys the subjective world so truthfully.

I knew somebody would offer Hemingway. OK, I will stop putting this off, and get some. FitzGerald and Bellow I will add to my photocopy-a-page list, I think. These authors are really not my era, but if the prose catches me, I will succumb.

needle: Ang, I love Mitford, for the wit. Read her so many times.

Soph..as far as fantasy goes, I agree with the G.G. Kaye reccs. He's definitely got the most luminous prose I've seen from a fantasy writer. Outside of fantasy, my mind has gone blank..except your style of writing makes me think of Dickens somehow. Not that I think his prose is neccessarily the most beautiful, just, seems to fit with your work. Donna Tartt..I'd second that one too, actually.

OK, two votes for Mitford and Tartt. They’re going on my Christmas list now, together with Kay (luminous prose – that sounds like what I need). Funny, I’ve had the Dickens comment before – as you say I don’t think he’s renowned for beautiful prose but it’s very flattering all the same. I wonder if it is the historical feel, or the fact I read a lot of Dickens in my formative period. I would be more than happy to have my writing labelled ‘Dickensian fantasy’. *dreams*

Thynessa Reed: Soph, here's my opinion for what it's worth. In fantasy - R A Lafferty. Anything else - John Banville.

Thynessa! Good to see you here. My job has been eating me alive. Hoping to be excreted by Christmas…er…I don’t think I wanted to say that. :sick: Anyway, I should have more time come January for fun things.

Thanks for the recs and links. I’ll jump down the links at the weekend. Knowing you makes me very eager to look.

Banipal: Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles has incredible imagery"

I also like the romantics, though that's poetry and not prose - Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Wordsworth, Tennyson. Their poems tell stories and I think they are a great inspiration. Bronte's Wuthering Heights. Anything by Dickens for characterization. Poe is my favorite for fantasy. His prose could have been written yesterday. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's short story "A Study in Scarlet." And I second Mervyn Peake for sure.

Banipal – it’s fascinating to see an illustrative paragraph. I read Tess a while ago and was exasperated with the story (not because of the author’s lack of skill though). However I’m more confident with imagery and vocabulary, but much less about the rhythm and balance of sentences, so your suggestion of looking at some poetry is a really good one.

The others you list (apart from Poe) are already on my list of favourite authors, but I think I’m looking for prose which is startlingly different from them to open my eyes to the larger range of possibilities – to stretch my mind. Good guesses though for what I might like! But I have neglected poetry, so that could be a breakthrough for me.

Knight of Ashes: Patricia A. McKillip's The Winter Rose, The Book of Atrix Wolfe and Ombrisa in Shadow.

Ah – thanks Knashes - I’ve heard good things of McKillip so I think I’ll look for some reviews of these books so I can choose one of them to put on my Christmas/amazon list.

TehipiteTom: Aha! So at least one other person in the world has read Lafferty! I heartily second the nomination; Lafferty has a wonderful prose voice, precise yet whimsical.

I think Lord Dunsany may be the greatest prose stylist in all of fantasy; his prose is musical, and well worth studying.

In general fiction, read Gregory Rabassa's translation of Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. It's a masterpiece of prose, and a masterpiece of translation.

Precise yet whimsical – excellent! Nice concise description, Tom, which catches my attention. I should have known Thynessa would recommend something whimsical. I love whimsy. I’m definitely getting something by Lafferty.

Lord Dunsany is on my list to read. I think I have a short story by him… *prioritises it* I would like to have the gift of writing ‘musical’ prose, and love reading it.

Useful to have a specific suggestion for the translation of One Hundred Years of Solitude. I wonder if that’s the one I read… Anyway, thanks T.Tom.

williamjm: I suppose it is subjective to some extent, but some fantasy authors whose prose I like are M. John Harrison, Steph Swainston, Roger Zelazney and Susannah Clarke.

Susannah Clarke I already mentioned. I go and peek at Steph Swainston in the bookshop sometimes (the one about angels) so maybe I should actually pick it up and buy it next time, on your recommendation to study her prose (I was put off by some reviews of the story). Zelazney I really ought to look at, and Harrison too. Thanks for reminding me.

*happy sigh*

You people have given me a lot of food for thought here. I just posted this a few hours ago, and come back from work to find such riches. I wish I’d asked years ago. Now I want two weeks off work to read all these books.

Edit: because quotes went funny.

[Werthead]

Guy Gavriel Kay, when he's on top form in Tigana and Song for Arbonne, is just amazing in his prose style. I wouldn't call it 'beautiful' (well it is in parts), but for clever, original, articulate, hilarious prose there is only one contender:

Jack Vance. Dying Earth but possibly even more so in Lyonesse (which is actually rather Kay-esque in parts). Brilliant stuff. Easy to see why he's GRRM's favourite author.

[Sophelia]

Seconding the recommendations for Kay (he's the God of Beautiful Prose as far as I am concerned) and also for Mary Renault. Oh, and Dorothy Dunnett, of course.

Dorothy Dunnett is up there in my god(esses) list. Not sure if I'd want to go that direction though: I'm trying to write in a more accessible style. Well, I suppose it's the amount of knowledge she assumes perhaps, rather than the prose, which make her writing dense to read. I do love it though. Mary Renault I haven't picked up since I was a teenager - must go to the library...

I'd recommend Richard Russo, Ian McEwan, Cormac Mccarthy, and Jim Harrison. Great writing from all.

Ah, more names. Ian McEwan is on my wish list. I'll have to look into the others. 'Great writing' is a bit vague, but I will go and look for myself.

Absolutely seconded. I've just started his novel The Charwoman's Shadow, and it is endlessly wonderful and lyrical. Most of Dunsany's work is so carefully wrought as to be poetry in prose form.

OK - now I want to rush off and read some now. Oh nice work people - how will I ever finish writing my novel with all these enticing books to look at (which will make my own writing look ever worse in comparison).

Outside of fantasy I love the prose of Goethe. Especially the Sorrow of Young Werther.

Been there, done that. (See bad classics thread) Certainly a distinctive style, but I'm not sure I want to go there. Hmm. Actually some of the letters written by people in the early eighteenth century use similar language. Perhaps I should selectively Wertherise.

Here are a few extremely skilled prose artists:

Gene Wolfe (especially in The Book of the New Sun)

Jack Vance

Tanith Lee

Ursula Le Guin

Mervyn Peake

John Crowley

Have Peake, Le Guin. Jack Vance is one of GRRM's recommendations, isn't he? [Aha, wethead confirms this] He's on my wish list. [useful to have specific book recommendations so thanks werthead for giving me some ideas] Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun seems to be out of print in the UK; I haven't been able to find it anywhere, even on amazon uk. John Crowley is a new one I'll look up. Thanks firqoret.

Gosh, not GGK, do not take his style - when it works for him, it works because of other elements, copying his style might lead to too purple prose.

Like Linda, I love Dunnett and Renault. Graves as well, if you are going for historical novels. And I do loveGRRM´s writing as well ( duh), specially the short stories.

McKillip is the obvious suggestion for lovely prose, totally agreed. Firgoret suggestions are all awesome prosists in my opinion - Jack Vance ( yep, it´s characters and plots I got a problem with), Tanith Lee ( oh yeah), Ursula Le Guin ( yep), Mervyn Peake ( yep), John Crowley ( if you want ultimate lovely fantasy prose, Little Big)

Thanks cteresa - good to see you here too - I value your views and you kind of confirm what I thought about Kay (though I'm still going to read him, given all the recommendations, but maybe not with the aim of learning from his prose style).

I'll add Tanith Lee to my now rather deliciously long list.

Thanks again people for all your wonderful input.

Edited to include werthead's response.

[Ran]

Ditto Kay and McKillip. Vance .... hrm. Yeah, why not? Not always, but he can render some amazingly lush environments and personalities. And Dunsany is seconded -- there's much to recommend him as a prosodist. Dunnett also seconded or thirded or whatever it may be.

Ellen Kushner would be one I'd add, based on her "manner-punk" novel Swordspoint and works such as Thomas the Rhymer.

Ursula K. LeGuin has written some beautiful things, as well, both in her SF and her fantasy work.

[cteresa]

*nods very entusiastically* Ellen Kushner definetely. Plus if you want to write fantasy, you got to read Swordspoint.

[Sophelia]

I've read Swordspoint.

[unJon]

I agree that the plot of Werther is slop. I actually could not stand the man myself. But I thought that the prose was very impressive. Especially considering how quickly Goethe wrote it. He wrote another story that didn't make much sense about an escaped lion. But again the prose, IMO, was great.

[Seven Pointed Star]

I have to agree with preivious posters who mentioned Jane Austen, Dorothy Dunnett (her sly with combined with diamond-like prose and grasp of subject matter is a wonder), Mary Renault & John Banville.

Here are some other prose masters, IMHO:

Michael Chabon, esp. 'The Adventures of Kavalier & Clay' - extremely evocative

Mark Helprin, esp. 'Memoir From an Antproof Case' - many lyrical passages

Paul West, esp. 'Lord Byron's Doctor' - one my all time Top 10 favorite books. Has it all, prose-wise.

Among the classics already mentioned, let me suggest Stendhal (Charterhouse of Parma) and Josef Roth (The Radetzky March).

For prose that is especially skilled at setting a place and time, I like Patrick O'Brien (20 volumes to pick from of the Aubrey/Maturin series), Alan Furst (his setting is the eve of WW2) and even James Ellroy and his noir crime novels.

[kli]

If Dunsany works for you, you may want to risk being driven nuts by sampling E.R. Eddison, James Branch Cabell, and Hope Mirrlees as well.

For historical writers I enjoy, I'd definitely second O'Brian and Dunnett, and add Rafael Sabatini ("He was born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad. And that was all his patrimony."), Georgette Heyer, and C.S. Forester to the list. (Forester makes an interesting contrast with O'Brian as top-down and bottom-up views of life in the Napoleonic-era British navy).

I'd also add, just for the hell of it, Connie Willis, as someone who can build an atmosphere until you nearly suffocate with it, or make you laugh like a loon for an entire book. And dunno if it counts as prose, but I love Tom Stoppard's way with words.

[Marcelo Rebelo Firqoralas]

Have Peake, Le Guin. Jack Vance is one of GRRM's recommendations, isn't he? [Aha, wethead confirms this] He's on my wish list. [useful to have specific book recommendations so thanks werthead for giving me some ideas] Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun seems to be out of print in the UK; I haven't been able to find it anywhere, even on amazon uk. John Crowley is a new one I'll look up. Thanks firqoret.

The Book of the New Sun is available in the UK in two volumes: Shadow & Claw and Sword & Citadel.

John Crowley's best novel is probably Little, Big.

[Centrist Simon Steele]

Which novels contain the most beautiful prose?

It's been 23 years since I studied English language/literature at school. Now I am trying to write novels of my own, I am frustrated that so many of my sentences are just 'meh' (functional, unmemorable or clumsy). I'm not sure if my style has simply not developed since I was 16 (I tend to revert to sequences of short sentences with 'and' being my most common sentence connective ), or whether the style I developed for work (scientific reports and teaching materials for university students) has been detrimental to my creative writing.

So... I would like to study novels by authors who are widely regarded as having beautiful prose(doesn't have to be fantasy). Any suggestions? If you can say a bit more about why their prose is so good, that would be even better.

P.S. And if anyone knows of authors who didn't write very well when they were 40, but later become masters/mistresses of prose, I'd be very encouraged to hear of them.

You know, I often say simplicity is the best. Just read and mimic what you like at first until your style comes through, but complicated prose is not always the best. For example, the Things They Carried by Tim O'brien is a wonderful book that shows simple writing and how powerful it can be. His structures aren't complicated or poetic but the story is powerful. The more you write the more you will find your voice. Give it time. Writing requires patience or so I think. Read and write and pay attention to what you like and see if your voice fits there.

Edit: Also it doesn't matter if others were 40 when they became masters, I think if you practice and really dedicate yourself to writing then it will happen for you. Good luck, writing is never easy but, as you know, it is very rewarding.

[cteresa]

Sophelia, a lot of the books mentioned (Little Big, McKillip, Gene Wolfe) are published in Britain in the Gollancz masterworks of fantasy series. Not all of those books are great prose, not all are necessarily great, but pretty good collection to check.

And how could I forget it? peter Beagle!

[Banipal]

Hi Sophelia-

I saw your Waterhouse and, put with your request for "beautiful" prose, thought you were looking for something flowery. I may be able to think of something else.

[perspicacious]

My immediate response is Nabakov. English was I believe, his 3rd langauge, and his command of it is amazing. His writing is just absolutely beautiful. If you haven't read him before, the obvious starting point is Lolita.

But lately, I've been reading The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. It's new (2001) and very modern, but he has a lovely writing style and a great way of using description. I recommend at least picking it up at the library and reading the first chapter or so to see if you like it.

[TehipiteTom]

OK - now I want to rush off and read some [Dunsany] now.

[Werthead]

Actually, forgot to add Al-Rassan to my Kay prose love list. The language in Sarantine Mosaic didn't quite grab me in the same way. And pimping Vance is something I enjoy nearly as much as pimping Martin to the masses.

Wethead? Hmm, maybe I should consider changing my user name if that's what people are going to misspell it as. I can't even swim!

Hmm, how about an ugliest prose list as well? Hands down equal winners in my book would be David Eddings and L. Ron Hubbard. And of course you have Mr. Robert Jordan for 'most inept prose award'. Occasionally he concept of sentance construction seems to go for a wander and end up totally at odds with that of the rest of humanity.

[Brys]

A few, which are all very obvious:

Mervyn Peake - especially in the first two Gormenghast books.

M John Harrison - particularly in Viriconium

Italo Calvino

Clark Ashton Smith

Jeff Vandermeer

A couple of other authors that have great prose, but not quite on a level with the above:

R Scott Bakker

Guy Gavriel Kay

Jack Vance

Fritz Leiber

[Ashara]

Sophelia, I just figured out what this thread remined me of:

As a kid, I read one of W. Somerset Maugham's authobiographical books, and one thing that I remembered was what he did to teach himself good prose: he chose what he considered the best examples of it, and copied them by memory, comparing afterwards, to see where he'd go wrong.... Not being an English native speaker, I don't remember his list of the authors, appart from deemly recalling that one was the letters of a priest (an abbot?)

As for purple, I think it is easier to bleach, than to make the "purple" work. Reading lots of amaturish prose, I came to the conclusion that it is either purple, or choppy or dialogue-dialogue that close to 100% of people start with. :/

The problem with purple that it tires tremendously, even in the best of the writers. Even with that very same Kay, his Fionavar is a borderline, though some people love it dearly. His later books deviate from there towards more restrained style.

[williamjm]

williamjm: I suppose it is subjective to some extent, but some fantasy authors whose prose I like are M. John Harrison, Steph Swainston, Roger Zelazney and Susannah Clarke.

Susannah Clarke I already mentioned. I go and peek at Steph Swainston in the bookshop sometimes (the one about angels) so maybe I should actually pick it up and buy it next time, on your recommendation to study her prose (I was put off by some reviews of the story).

"The Year Of Our War" isn't actually about angels. The people in it may sometimes have wings, but they're certainly no angels. I have heard varying reviews - some people seemed not to like it, but I thought it was a wonderful book, it is a hugely original (and possibly unique) fantasy novel with memorable characters and a compelling plot.

[Pellegrina]

Sophelia, regarding Sylvia Townsend Warner:

I wonder though if it is her prose which has such an effect on you, or her characterisation or something else (if I am making any sense – it’s hard to separate out the characters from the words which are used to describe them!). I’m intrigued. Guess I’ll have to read it for myself.

I know exactly what you mean, and in the case of Lolly Willowes there's certainly an element of that; I loved the central character enough to design a roleplaying character around her. But everything I've read by her, including one novel I wasn't so keen on in terms of plot and characters, was still marked by her very distinctive voice. Lolly Willowes has an understated magical theme to it, but you might like to start with Kingdoms of Elfin, a series of interlinked short stories. But last time I looked, it was out of print, so you might have to go to abebooks.com to track it down.

Also, whoever suggested Patrick O'Brian: