for his Cornell students, is only 52 pages in length. My republished version of the original edition, written and privately published in 1918 by William Strunk Jr. It all matters, and here are some of the reasons why. But if you take it as the names of two people, then, yes, the original author and his reviser both still matter. If you take “Strunk & White” as the name of a book, yes, the book still matters. Consider my headline: Why Strunk & White still matters (or matter) (or both). Let’s place it somewhere between an appreciation and a deconstruction. This essay is not a history, a summary, a paean or a critique. In oral history style, these well-known authors testify as to how they found the advice in Strunk & White formative, and at certain moments in their lives, deformative. Long-time fans of the book, along with its harshest critics, can learn from commentators, gathered by Garvey, who include the likes of Dave Barry (humorist), Sharon Olds (poet) and Adam Gopnik (critic). Strunk & White.Īlmost anything you need to know about The Elements of Style can be found in the 2009 book “Stylized” by Mark Garvey, who describes his work as a “slightly obsessive history.” Any fan of “Strunk & White” will be fascinated by a detailed history of the writing guide, informed by correspondence between White and the publishers, who thought he could add something significant on writing to his teacher’s book, which was more about usage. Their names, conjoined by ampersand, became shorthand for the title of what Strunk and his students knew as the “little book.” That little book became big enough in its influence to have sold more than 10 million copies. Strunk, the Professor & White, the Author. To generations of children and their parents, he was best known as author of “Stuart Little” and “Charlotte’s Web.” A veteran of The New Yorker, White wrote as a reporter, editorialist, correspondent, essayist, poet and novelist. White.Ī century ago, Strunk was an English professor at Cornell, and White became one of his most famous students, one of the most well-known and versatile writers of the 20th century. I say granddaddy and grandmommy not just to avoid the universal masculine, but because it is now the work of two authors, not one: William Strunk Jr. “The Elements of Style” is the great-granddaddy and the great-grandmommy of all books on writing. On occasion, with permission from the publisher Little, Brown and Company, will publish drafts of key chapters. Editor's note: Roy is working on a writing book about … well, books on writing.
0 kommentar(er)
