The New Criterion properly considers itself an urbane journal of the arts. With this, comes a commitment to first-rate style, without regard to the Idiocracy that is overwhelming our culture.
But I saw something interesting (or disturbing, depending on whether one cheers this cultural secular bear market or condemns it) in the current issue. In its lead column, Roger Kimball (or his typesetter) appears to employ the Medium.com guide to prose for idiots: Every paragraph stands by itself, with lots of white space.
I don't know whether it's a one-off product of the essay's contents or a concession to the idiots. If the former, we move on. The latter? We weep.
Of course, Kimball's content is far better than Medium.com prose. Each paragraph is still a self-contained mini-essay, consistent with traditional essayist norms. And Mr. Kimball is still far removed from the stylistic decadence of The Sun (one sentence for every paragraph; every paragraph typeset apart).
But I'll be watching this development (or non-development, as it were) with morbid curiosity.
Later Addendum: I went back and looked at the piece. It's not attributed to Roger Kimball like previous columns. Maybe he's not the author?
Oh, the mystery and suspense!
