Product Details
Touchstone, October 2009
Hardcover, 240 pages
ISBN-10: 1416590927
ISBN-13: 9781416590927
Description
A LIVELY, WITTY, AND PASSIONATE
CELEBRATION OF THE "LITTLE BOOK"
THAT HAS DONE MORE TO SHAPE WRITING
IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE THAN
ANY OTHER GUIDE IN MODERN TIMES
Since 1959, The Elements of Style has been required reading for aspiring writers, English majors, and anyone with a love of language. Strunk and White's guidelines for good grammar and style have been discussed, debated, and occasionally even debunked...but they cannot be dismissed.
A Strunk and White devotee since high school, writer and editor Mark Garvey has long appreciated Elements for its character, its attitude, and its bracing good sense. The book is not only a helpful guide to creating better prose, it is also a compelling reminder of the virtues of clarity, simplicity, and truth in writing -- and an inspiring celebration of the individual voice. To tell the story of this timeless, beloved, sometimes controversial book, and the men behind it, Garvey digs deep into the Cornell University archives and the personal letters of E. B. White and his professor William Strunk Jr.
Stylized is a lovingly crafted history that explores Elements' staying power and takes us from the hallowed halls of academia to the bustling offices of The New Yorker magazine to the dazzling days of old Hollywood -- and into the hearts and minds of some of the most respected writers working today.
How did you come to write this book?
The Elements of Style, an icon of American culture, has been a touchstone for me since I was a teenager, in the mid-1970s. But the book really hit home with me in college, when I was becoming interested in writing myself and trying to figure out how writers got their work done. Strunk and White, in Elements, provided a path that appealed to me--in their calm presentation of a few helpful guidelines, in their attitudes about simplicity, concision, brevity. The book also reassured me that if a writer was paying attention in his life and working hard to write with care and clarity and honesty, he stood a decent chance of putting his finger on some real truth from time to time and passing that along to his readers. Finally, White's Chapter 5 essay, "An Approach to Style," widened the Elements message to include the subject of self-discovery, offering sage advice about clearing the brush and deadwood from your prose so that you can emerge (which, it turns out, is the final secret of achieving "style"). In 2005, I noticed that The Elements of Style was approaching its 50th anniversary, in 2009. The anniversary seemed the perfect time to tell the story of Elements and to give some thought to the reasons for the book's staying power. I had been an E. B. White fan for many years, and I wanted to learn more about White's work with Elements. I was also intrigued to learn more about William Strunk, a man we didn't know much about beyond what White had written in his introduction to Elements. I thought other admirers of The Elements of Style might appreciate the opportunity to learn more about the book and the men behind it.
"I had no idea there were so many delightful anecdotes to be told about the birth and life of one of my favorite little books."
-- Will Schwalbe, coauthor of Send: Why People Email So Badly and How to Do It Better
"Whether you love or hate The Elements of Style, Garvey's infectious enthusiasm and riveting glimpse into Strunk's and White's lives make this book irresistible."
-- Mignon Fogarty, author of the New York Times bestseller Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
"A gem of a book about a gem of a book.... Stylized is an exquisite homage that Strunk and White would heartily approve."
-- Jack Heffron, author of The Writer's Idea Book
"If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they're happy."
-- Dorothy Parker on The Elements of Style
"This original, thoroughly researched work is recommended for both academics and for nonstudents who love writing."
-- Library Journal
"An eminently readable tribute."
-- Booklist
"Much more than basic history and undeniably obsessive."
-- New York Times Book Review
"Garvey crafts an ebullient but (suitably) efficient tribute to a much loved writing guide."
-- Publishers Weekly starred review
New York Times, October 17, 2009
...precision and clarity behind The Elements of Style? This grain of wit is one among many unearthed by Mark Garvey in Stylized, his slightly obsessive history of Elements, which is much more than basic history and undeniably obsessive. Garvey, ...
