Clear and Simple as the Truth by Mark Turner
This text aims to explain prose style, and in doing so, provokes the reader to consider style, not as an elegant accessory of effective prose, but as its very heart. At a time when writing skills have virtually disappeared, wh at can be done? If only people learned the principles of verbal correctness, the essential rules, wouldn't good prose simply fall into place? This book says no. Attending to rules of grammar, sense, and sentence structure will no more lead to effective prose than knowing the mechanics of a golf swing will lead to a hole-in-one. Furthermore, ten-step programs to better writing exacerbate the problem by failing to recognize, as this work points out, that there are many styles with different standards. In the first half of the book the authors introduce a range of styles - reflexive, practical, plain, contemplative, romantic, prophetic, and others - contrasting them to classic style. Its principles are simple: the writer adopts the pose that the motive is truth, the purpose is presentation, the reader is an intellectual equal, and the occasion is informal. Classic style is at home in everything from business memos to personal letters, from magazine articles to university writing. The second half of the book is a tour of examples - the exquisite and the execrable - showing what has worked and what hasn't. Classic prose is found everywhere: from Thomas Jefferson to Junichiro Tanizaki, from Mark Twain to the observations of an undergraduate. Here are many fine performances in classic style, each clear and simple as the truth.
"Prix du Rayonnement de la langue et de la littérature françaises of the Académie Française"
"[For] the mature student, this is indeed a classicFor the connoisseur, it is indispensable."---Thomas D'Evelyn, Boston Book Review
"An acclaimed new reference manual." * The Chicago Sun Times *
"Whether they can spark a revival in classic writing is uncertain, but Thomas and Turner serve their topic well. A good choice for the serious stylist and those learning the craft." * Library Journal *
"Thomas and Turner engagingly delineate the attributes of a classic style of writing. . . . In the second half, Thomas and Turner cite examples of classic style in excerpts from the writing of well-known literary figures." * Booklist *
"[For] the mature student, this is indeed a classicFor the connoisseur, it is indispensable."---Thomas D'Evelyn, Boston Book Review
"An acclaimed new reference manual." * The Chicago Sun Times *
"Whether they can spark a revival in classic writing is uncertain, but Thomas and Turner serve their topic well. A good choice for the serious stylist and those learning the craft." * Library Journal *
"Thomas and Turner engagingly delineate the attributes of a classic style of writing. . . . In the second half, Thomas and Turner cite examples of classic style in excerpts from the writing of well-known literary figures." * Booklist *
Professor of English at the University of Maryland, Mark Turner Death Is the Mother of Beauty: Thought, Metaphor, Critique (Chicago) is one of his books.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780691036670 |
| ISBN 10 | 0691036675 |
| Title | Clear and Simple as the Truth |
| Author | Mark Turner |
| Series | Princeton Legacy Library |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Princeton University Press |
| Year published | 1994-11-20 |
| Number of pages | 248 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |