On forced simplicity
A few days ago I watched a TV program about a Japanese best-seller author and I felt sorry, for I could relate to some personal experiences in my professional field.
See, the respective author wrote a book targeting the women readers, and probably the younger ones but, following the advice of her publisher, she had to greatly simplify her style and choice of words, otherwise people wouldn’t read her book. In other words, the book, in its initial form was too smart for them…
I happened to face a similar problem in my activity and, like the above mentioned author, I had to adapt to the “market conditions”.
In whose interest is it to keep people limited in their choice, and since when being dumb became a fashion? Why wouldn’t a fully-educated young person grasp notions presented in anything more than a basic wording?
I can’t help but shake my head in sorrow at those readers who praised the book as “wonderful for its easy reading”. They look like they never touched a serious book in their life. Something that requires you to think, to digest the information you get.
You know, simple isn’t always better. If it was, I’m sure the Japanese language wouldn’t keep its various levels of politeness still around…
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