Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Ah, the little book ...

... A 'Little Book' Bursting With The Write Ideas. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Robertson Davies was less impressed with Strunk & White: "This is a wonderful book, if you want to write like a White or a Strunk. But do you? I should hate to read a novel written in Strunkese. As for Mr. White, his style is a perfect instrument for what he has to say, but for my taste that sounds too often like a few wise, weary words written by a man who is on the point of retiring to bed with a heavy cold."

I think he also said somewhere that the book enables you competently construct the prose equivalent of a hen house, but that many people want to construct something a bit more elaborate.

3 comments:

  1. Aaron Haspel differs with Mr Yardley about Strunk & White in his blog posting Omit Needless Books of Advice on Writing.

    And Maxine comments on his posting in her Horses for courses, which stimulated some comments on the Oxford comma, among other things.

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  2. IIRC, the argument for omitting the Oxford comma had more to do with space and time than anything else; i.e., when text was set by hand (first by Gutenberg piece-by-piece; and, then, in monotype for newspapers), it saved two spaces (and that length of time) to omit the final comma in the series.

    That argument no longer applies; and, for my money, I've intransigently kept to the Oxford rule (since, as the example on Maxine's blog shows, it's essential for clarity in many cases). Natch, my editors remove it; but, if a dame reads hats, caps and gloves are available in red, white and blue (is she to think she must buy both idiot-stringed caps and gloves both available in two colours only)? (And, why aren't they available in black, huh?)

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  3. Anonymous12:57 PM

    I love Davies, and frankly there's no reason for him to care for the writings of Strunk or White; but EB White is my hero (his picture on my wall looking at me right now) and his collected letters are a gem of a gem.

    Plus: the audio book of EBW reading Charlotte's Web is priceless...my 8-year old daughter agrees.

    FTR: I use the Oxford comma and, like FW, the semi-colon.

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