Saturday, May 11, 2013

How To Write Good – ADDENDUM #2

Some blog followers might be interested in a recent post “How To Write Good – ADDENDUM #2” [Hake (2013)]. The abstract reads:

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ABSTRACT: In response to “How to Write Good” [Hake (2013)] at http://yhoo.it/15ouwJm, Gene Glass wrote (paraphrasing): “The Elements of Style [Strunk & White (1959, 2000)] at http://bit.ly/13ZRsda might be the undergrad’s guide to good writing, but Jacques Barzun’s (1975, 2001) Simple & Direct at http://amzn.to/10wv2lq is surely the postgraduate textbook.”

That Simple & Direct is also “Thorough and Scholarly” is manifest in its CONTENTS page:
Introduction
I. DICTION, or Which Words to Use
II. LINKING, or What to Put Next
III. TONE AND TUNE, or What Impression Will It Make
IV. MEANING, or What Do I Want to Say?
V. COMPOSITION, or How Does It Hang Together
VI. REVISION, or What Have I Actually Said?
Hints Toward Improving the Quoted Sentences
Index of Words, Topics, and Authors

For information on Barzun see e.g.:
(a) the Wikipedia entry at http://bit.ly/Yxp4yw;
(b) the eulogy by Rothstein (2012) at http://nyti.ms/YIPAY1;
(c) the eulogy by Epstein (2012) at http://on.wsj.com/ZU4xoR;
(d) the interview by Gathman (2000) at http://bit.ly/17dQaje;
(e) the biography by Murray (2011) at http://amzn.to/120G3rS;
(f) Barzun's (2002) book A Stroll With William James http://amzn.to/19bReAB, whom Barzun regarded as his “guide and mentor.”
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To access the complete 18 kB post please click on http://yhoo.it/11tJ4WK.

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
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“[Jacques Barzun] wrote in a flawless and magisterial manner on a vast array of subjects: Darwin, Marx, Wagner, Berlioz, William James, French verse, English prose composition, university teaching, detective fiction, the state of intellectual life, and finally, published when he was 93, his magnum opus, From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present. None of this writing seemed motivated by his desire to advance his career; all of it derived from genuine intellectual passion.”
- Epstein (2012)


REFERENCES [URL’s shortened by http://bit.ly/ and accessed on 11 May 2013.]
Epstein, J. 2012. “Jacques Barzun: An Appreciation” Wall Street Journal, 26 Oct., online to subscribers at http://on.wsj.com/ZU4xoR (non-subscribers can read the entire article by searching Google for “Jacques Barzun: An Appreciation.”

Hake, R.R. 2013. “How To Write Good – ADDENDUM #2,” online on the OPEN! Net-Gold archives at http://yhoo.it/11tJ4WK. Post of 11 May 2013 14:56:55 -0700. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to several discussion lists.


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