Jay JG wrote
Do we really want "brilliant prose"?
Used to.
Is that even possible in an Encyclopedia? What would "brillaint prose" look like in the context of an Encyclopedia; do we have any articles which contain examples? I would
have
thought that "clear and concise" would have been more of the kind of
things
we are aiming for as regards prose, though I'm not stating that as an adamant point.
I don't want brilliant prose in an article on heart disease. Decent writing always helps popular science (cf. New Scientist). In current affairs it is far from useless (cf. The Economist); we can't use the Economist's style book unrevised, but there is a lot in having it crisp and articulate. ''Clear and concise" is more the idealised civil servant's style - pretty good if the point is to get succinct versions of arguments written without distortion.
I think most of the style books make points about keeping vitality in the prose, not just conforming to 'rules'.
Charles