In prose fiction specifically, as it’s sort of a given for a lot of poetry. Thinking things like “Ulysses” by James Joyce, although to a lesser extent. It seems like a lot of the writing advice I get for fiction I work on is to simplify it or that my wording is a tad confusing, but I think I just like to write that way. Not give readers a headache per se, but I like the concept of bleeding ideas into one another and leading people to really think about what they’re reading. Idk. I feel like there’s been sort of a push for simplification of prose where the more direct and literal your writing, the “stronger” it is, and relying on metaphor and allegory is considered “weaker” writing. Using a word with more than two syllables in it may be considered tryhard or superfluous. What do you think?
it seems people are really tired of rhetorical devices, and guessing meaning, or leaving meaning up to question/interpretation because it leads to misinterpretation, or very often these days it leads to reinterpretation for a political ideology which it does not fit. probably a side effect of so much post-modernism (?)
metaphors and allegories are powerful tools of writing though, and it’s an amazing way to convey abstract thought and relate it to pre-existing cognitive development in way that expands consciousness.
tools in a toolbox. not about weaker or stronger, but just about understanding where your audience is at, and then what is important, or maybe necessary, for that audience