I agree. This was what is was trying to get to, what do we call that kind of writing though, Kerouac, Bukowski etc?
That’s true. The setting has to fit. Good question. They were from the Beat Generation, weren’t they, but I don’t know if that describes the style of writing.
I just pulled up a free internet copy of Mark Twain's critique of Fennimore Cooper, my copy having been donated to a good cause many years ago. Twain is quite the wit, his assessment is scathing and addresses most of the issues raised by this thread. "Cooper's art has some defects. In one place in 'Deerslayer,' and in the restricted space of two-thirds of a page, Cooper has scored 114 offences against literary art out of a possible 115. It breaks the record." Well worth a read.
If we're talking in terms of extremes, I don't think either strictly (extreme) purple or strictly (extreme) non purple prose is going to help anyone. Too non purple and you get a biology essay, too purple and you get that one star treck fanfiction that spawned the mary sue trope. or even worse, twilight lol (Nothing against it, I understand why folks like it, but let's not mince words here heh) To get good writing you need to find a balance of both, just like show vs tell and when to let the narrator narrate and/or have the characters narrate. A non fiction history story would be well suited for minimal prose. But if you're telling a story that's gonna be the next Star Wars, you may want to embellish a bit.
I would call it stripped down, no-nonsense, tough writing that gets straight to the point and doesn't dilly-dally.
