Simple & Direct: A Rhetoric for Writers
Barzun, Jacques
Sold by BooksRun, Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A.
AbeBooks Seller since February 2, 2016
Used - Hardcover
Condition: Used - Fair
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketSold by BooksRun, Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A.
AbeBooks Seller since February 2, 2016
Condition: Used - Fair
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketThe item might be beaten up but readable. May contain markings or highlighting, as well as stains, bent corners, or any other major defect, but the text is not obscured in any way.
Seller Inventory # 0060102365-7-1
A fter a lifetime of writing and editing prose, Jacques Barzun has set down his view of the best ways to improve one's style. His discussions of diction, syntax, tone, meaning, composition, and revision guide the reader through the technique of making the written word clear and agreeable to read. Exercises, model passages both literary and casual, and hundreds of amusing examples of usage gone wrong show how to choose the right path to self-expression in forceful and distinctive words.
Still, no stodgy codger he. Barzun merely asks that you "have a point and make it by means of the best word." If that means splitting an infinitive or substituting a "which" for a "that," so be it. Just be sure that the decision to do so is conscious and informed. Once you've found the right word, you can move on to writing sentences and then leaning them against one another until they form paragraphs. Only when you've gotten it all down, says Barzun, should you allow yourself the pleasure of revision. "Unlike the sculptor," he says, "the writer can start carving and enjoying himself only after he has dug the marble out of his own head." --Jane Steinberg
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