David Bentley Hart发表长篇评论，为英文散文的表达力与美学价值进行辩护1。他以17世纪Thomas Browne等散文大师为范例，论证英文散文的黄金时代正是当时充分释放了语言表达力的时期1。Hart批评20世纪以来英文散文风格转向过度简化和美学极简主义，导致大量平庸作品的出现1，并对Orwell《Politics and the English Language》和Strunk & White《Elements of Style》等著作中的教条化建议提出了强烈反驳1。
在他提出的33条写作规则中，Hart强调应始终使用最精确的词汇而非最常见的词，在优雅和清晰之间选择优雅，并充分利用英文多源词汇的丰富性1。他特别强调分号和破折号的重要性，指出"要掌握分号就是掌握散文，掌握分号就是掌握语言捕捉现实形状的奇迹般能力"1。在实践范例上，Hart援引Robert Louis Stevenson、Sylvia Townsend Warner、J.A. Baker、Patrick Leigh Fermor与Vladimir Nabokov五位作家的作品作为写作标杆1。
Hart的核心主张是"语言是魔法"，认为写作应该像咒语和召唤一样运作，目的是为后世而非仅为当下创作1。
David Bentley Hart has published a comprehensive essay on the art of English prose writing that challenges prevailing aesthetic conventions in contemporary style guides 1. Hart argues that the golden age of English prose occurred in the 17th century, when writers wielded language with greater expressive freedom and technical sophistication 1. He contends that 20th-century prose style has deteriorated due to an overemphasis on simplicity and minimalist aesthetics, resulting in an abundance of mediocre writing 1.
Hart presents 33 writing principles that serve as counterweight to what he considers the dogmatic prescriptions of influential works such as George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" and William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White's "Elements of Style" 1. His rules emphasize precision over commonality—writers should select the most exact word rather than the most familiar one—and advocate for elegance as the superior choice when elegance and clarity compete 1. He also stresses the importance of leveraging English's etymologically diverse vocabulary to achieve greater linguistic richness 1. Semicolons and dashes receive particular attention in his framework; Hart asserts that "to master the semicolon is to master prose, to master the semicolon is to master the miraculous ability of language to capture the shape of reality" 1.
Hart supports his argument by citing five exemplary writers—Robert Louis Stevenson, Sylvia Townsend Warner, J.A. Baker, Patrick Leigh Fermor, and Vladimir Nabokov—as models of prose excellence 1. Central to his vision is the principle that "language is magic," and that writing should function as incantation and summons, created for future generations rather than merely for contemporary readers 1.
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