What is Minimalism?

Minimalist Authors Under the Guise of Poetry

Minimalism. At this point, all of you should have at least a small idea about what minimalism could be.


We will find later that silence is a tool that is often used my minimalist writers. Often in these cases, minimalism is based on a concern with the implications of an emotion or a single mood: a space of occupation (and consciousness) where the syntax is equally concerned with what is silent and what is spoken.

With me so far?

A famous Ernest Hemingway writing rule: "If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water."

A few aphorisms about minimalism are “Form follows function” and “Less is more”.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

* Literary minimalism arose in response to the meta-fiction trend of the 1960s and early 1970s and continues through the present day.

* Minimalism, the opposite of maximalism, is a representation of only the most basic and necessary pieces. In music, minimalism is characterized by repetition and a steady pulse; in painting, by only a few colors and basic geometric shapes; and in literature, by economy with words.

* Minimalist authors have a specific style. They hesitate to use adjectives and adverbs, and would not even think about droning on and on about seemingly meaningless details - page after page after page. Minimalist works often include ordinary subject matters, have straightforward narratives, focus on single moods or emotions, and consist of characters who don’t think out loud. Such authors force readers to take an active role in the creative process; instead of providing every minute detail, the author provides a general context and then allows the reader’s imagination to shape the story.