Did the Fred Franz style of writing cease after he died?

SydBarrett

I was completely out by 1991 and 1989 would have been the last time I had to attend regularly. That over the top Franz writing style was still there in the 1980's although i've heard he wasn't actually doing much writing by then. But his style was definitely picked up and imitated for many years beyond its wacky, outlandish peak of the the 50's - 70's. The man sure was in love with the exclamation point! How true!

For those of you who were still JW's after he croaked in 1992, did the writing style continue or did you notice a change to a less breathless style of writing?

slimboyfat

The style of writing has certainly changed in lots of respects. The overriding difference is that vocabulary and sentence structure has become simpler, some would say dumbed down. The tone is also less belligerent, in particular against other churches, for example. Some old commonplaces have disappeared, such as the old references to “the society” and “classes”, as in the “John class”, “bride class”, “other sheep class”, or perhaps the best: “evil slave class”.

Many have commented on Franz’s distinct style over the years. I wonder if you could provide an example of a book or other publication you think displays this style most clearly.

Balaamsass2

You mean the weird run-on sentences? lol.

Fraud-drick Franz, the first-year college dropout who insinuated he was a Rhodes Scholar? Who told people he was a "Greek scholar"?

Hey new boy! Strip off your clothes and meet me in the sauna so we can "discuss the bible " after work, Franz?

SydBarrett

"Hey new boy! Strip off your clothes and meet me in the sauna so we can "discuss the bible " after work, Franz"

Hmm. I've never heard any sexual rumors in regards to Franz. I've always viewed him as just a (hurtful to millions) oddball who loved exclamation points, probably on the autistic spectrum.

Balaamsass2

Sorry to burst your bubble Syd. I saw Fred and Ray every day. Fred was a weirdo and a fraud.

SydBarrett

"Sorry to burst your bubble Syd. I saw Fred and Ray every day. Fred was a weirdo and a fraud."

I agree he was both of those things. I'm not sure what I said in my topic to make you think you were bursting any Franz fandom bubble.
I called him hurtful, an oddball, possibly autistic and a shitty writer. How much more clear can my feelings be?

slimboyfat

Balaam, Fred Franz was certainly weird and he got weirder as he got older, people who knew him seem to agree on that. But are you sure about the gay angle? I’ve heard from others that Franz had a sort of girlfriend in the French branch and Barbara Harrison says she got on with him and reckons he flirted with her when she was a young secretary in the 1950s. Others have said he was apparently asexual. Knorr on the other hand, more people seem to agree was probably gay, whether he acted on it or suppressed it. A few years ago it was claimed AI could predict sexual orientation from the shape of a person’s face. I wouldn’t be surprised if it can do that now because orientation does seem to have a genetic component and openly gay people do seem to have a difficult to define “look” that AI may be able to tease out by leveraging big data. Maybe it could be possible to answer such questions, shortly before AI kills us all. 🤯

dropoffyourkeylee

There are methods researchers use to identify the probable author of books and articles, use of vocabulary and grammar, etc. There are enough audio clips of Franz speaking and known examples of his writing that it would be really helpful to see the results of such analysis on WT literature. I don't know how to do it myself, but it would be quite interesting.

slimboyfat

Yes, that would be excellent! Also settle the issue of what Maria Russell wrote in the early days too.

Did the Fred Franz style of writing cease after he died?

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