Once on the subject of writing, Dwight Macdonald wrote a letter to the editors of Dissent, dated January 5, 1960, distinguishing between clear and confused styles. Here is an excerpt:
The Sermon on the Mount is notably clear and simple, at least as rendered in the King James Version, to which I have paid public homage on several occasions. But there is this much point to it, which some of your contributors might ponder: that were the Sermon woolly and pretentious in style, that would indeed be my reaction, and I should be right, since in that case the Sermon would not be the great moral message it is but a botch, and not only in style. Great ideas can only be expressed in a great style. There is no such thing as a clear message delivered in a confused style; the message is the style and the style is the message. Selah!
(Quoted from page 390 of Discriminations: Essays & Afterthoughts, by Dwight Macdonald. A Da Capo Paperback, 1974.)
For a brief biography of Dwight Macdonald, click here. For images of or relating to Dwight Macdonald, click here.
The Friend You've Been Waiting For
- The friend you've been waiting for has also been waiting for you. Meet each other at your local animal shelter.
Who runs this blog?
- The Saunterer. That's me, H. Charles Romesburg, Professor in the Department of Environment and Society, Utah State University. As part of my research I saunter through the writings of especially creative people, keeping an eye open for insightful ideas on subjects that are joined with great goodness and creativity. I will in this blog present ideas from the writings of more than three hundred of these creators: painters, scientists, mathematicians, entrepreneurs, writers, poets, naturalists, actors, rock climbers and more. Among the subjects that will be covered: How workers in most every vocation and avocation can work as artists do, creating use, beauty, or both, of rare note. How regularly experiencing wild nature makes us better creators. How it is that the more all forms of life come to be revered, the more creative society will be. For some of the other subjects that will be covered, click on cnr.usu.edu/romesburg
Complete Archives
LINKS
Copyright 2005 by H. C. Romesburg
« Václav Havel on responsibility | Main | Henry David Thoreau on life »
December 21, 2011
The comments to this entry are closed.
Recent Posts
- T. M. Luhrmann on Go
- from the great Indian epic the Mahabharata
- Elizabeth Hamilton on beauty
- Why did evolution give humans pubic hair?
- The Saunterer's method of organizing books
- Robert Frost on revolutionizing the world
- Avi Loeb on preserving the world
- Sir Michael Edwards on how a foreign language affects your feelings
- David Attenborough on the human race’s greatest folly
- Brad Taylor, author of fourteen best selling thrillers, on what makes a good one
Recent Comments
- Nrsys on Willi Unsoeld on ananda
- James Radford on Tony La Russa on why cats are very special
- Mark Rasmussen on Eric Clapton on blues music
- James Radford on Virginia Gildersleeve on political correctness
- James Radford on Will Durant on where to find the story of your life
- Isaac McCracken on Massimo Pigliucci on Fermi’s paradox
- D on Amelia Earhart advised women to compete
- Natasi Leeva on Charles Seigneur de Saint-Évremond on the value of patience
- Errington on C. L. R. James on the influence of sports in society
- Jen Christopherson on Ruth Harrison on cruelty to animals
Books by H. Charles Romesburg
H. Charles Romesburg: The Life of the Creative Spirit
Practically all of the quotations in this blog's posts are collected in "The Life of the Creative Spirit."H. Charles Romesburg: How About It, Writer?
Based on a study of more than 12,000 essays from the very best literary magazines, this book provides writers with lists of thousands of classic forms of opening sentences, titles, transition sentences, ways of saying "for example," and ways of closing nonfiction pieces. When you are writing an essay and want a hint for a better or fresh way of saying what you mean, looking through the lists acts on the imagination, stimulating your creativity. From Lulu Press (ISBN 1-4116-2862-4, 194 pp., softback), it's $16.95 when ordered from Lulu.com/Romesburg , and $22.95 from bookstores. To view its cover, click on www.cnr.usu.edu/romesburg/how_about_it_writer.htm To view its title page, contents, and first two chapters, click on: www.cnr.usu.edu/romesburg/how_about_it_writer_preview.pdfH Charles Romesburg: Best Research Practices
The Saunterer’s new book (2009), Best Research Practices explains how to plan and carry out reliable experiments, how to conceive and circumstantially support research hypotheses, how to test research hypotheses with the hypothetico-deductive method, how to discover cause and effect, and more. It’s based on his examination of 5,000 top scientific articles, studying the methods used to produce reliable knowledge. Preview it on-line by going to the following link: http://print.google.com/print?isbn=9780557017836
Comments