Everyone talks about style, but no one explains it. The authors of this
book do; and in doing so, they provoke 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, what can be
done? If only people learned the principles of verbal correctness, the
essential rules, wouldn't good prose simply fall into place? Thomas and
Turner say 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 Thomas and Turner point out, that there are many styles
with different standards.
In the first half of Clear and Simple, 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 Junichirō 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.
Originally published in 1994.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand
technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from
the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions
preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting
them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the
Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich
scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by
Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
