
“A book is a sneeze” - gruseom
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2013/08/a-book-is-sneeze.html
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veidr
I got a rush of nostalgia seeing the manual "^seem" correction on the third
scanned page. I haven't had to do that for around 30 years, and despite doing
it many many times before that, I had completely forgotten about that process.

(It's a good letter also.)

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krmmalik
I love the way people communicated in the 20th century, and the writing is
very much how it was spoken. There's so much candour and mature sentiment. I
feel all that is lost today, there's less candour, less vulnerability and less
elegance.

I guess languages evolve over time and it is to be expected, but it does
sadden me (not in a bitter way). I'd love to find further works like this.
They're exceptionally delightful.

~~~
kafkaesque
_I feel all that is lost today, there 's less candour, less vulnerability and
less elegance._

As a literature major, I think you're misrepresenting the 20th century; more
specifically, the '50s.

The '50s gave birth to the Beat poets, Kerouac's _On the Road_ , Allen
Ginsberg (who wrote poetry that would be considered pretty vulgar even by
today's standards, including highly detailed sex orgies), Burroughs' _Naked
Lunch_ , etc.

Basically, the '50s (and other points in the 20th century), had a lot of
literature which was less elegant and less vulnerable--just as experimental as
today's works of arts, just as cynical and dishonest.

EB White was a purist. That doesn't mean he was any better or worse. But he
does have a particular style he is partial to.

There is more candid, vulnerable, and elegant literature being written today,
just as there was in the late 20th century (late 90s). If you tell me the
themes you're interested in, I might be able to recommend some stuff.

~~~
ender7
Moreover, while White's style of writing is simple and straightforward, it is
not representative of how people talked then (or talk today). That's part of
the magic -- his words are so carefully crafted that we mistake elegance for
simplicity and structure for straightforwardness. There is none of the common
unevenness of natural speech to trip up our reading ears; the words flow so
easily into our minds that it feels like we're talking to ourselves.

White was also the co-author of a famous prescriptive book on writing and
grammar [1]. He knew what he was doing :)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elements_of_Style](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elements_of_Style)

~~~
kafkaesque
Very true!

But to be honest, I'm thankful most of my English professors did not care for
The Elements of Style, never recommended it, and instead recommended other
style guides which were better suited to me and our times. :)

I loved Charlotte's Web, though. I first read it when I was 8, I believe, and
it had quite an impact on me.

Thematically, quite different, but Dylan Thomas had the same, I like to call
it deceptive 'straightforwardness' and 'simplicity'. Plus, his sincerity was
refreshing. He stripped away all the pretentiousness that many
symbolists/surrealists can be interpreted as having. When I read him I don't
sense that same frivolous nature some academics have, including some stuff by
EB White.

~~~
shadowsun7
Could you perhaps recommend some of these alternatives to The Elements of
Style? I'm rather curious to read them and see how they compare.

~~~
kafkaesque
I'll dig through my boxes to find the one I referred to the most. I have the
image of the front cover in my head, but not the name. It was something pretty
generic, though.

But I should clarify I went to school in Canada.

All of my style guides were from small publishers and many were written by my
instructors/professors.

We/I did use some international ones from time to time (some profs had
preferences). These were:

(1) MLA Style Manual or MLA Handbook

(2) AP Stylebook

(3) New York Times Manual of Style and Usage

(4) Chicago Manual of Style

Now that I'm in the United States, I use (4) at work. They have an online
version of their entire book (first 30 days free):
[http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html](http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html)

But to get back to The Elements of Style, it would almost be easier to look at
what S&W recommend and see how writers write today, as you're most likely to
find the answer right there in front of you.

Elements of Style was written in 1918. There have been all sorts of stylistic
suggestions since then, depending on your field. The reason why we used more
than one style guide at school was because neither can be said to be
definitive, exhaustive or the 'best'. Some provided better explanations as to
why certain styles were preferred.

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lsb
Most people who are passionate about writing, for any kind of writing
(code/text/music/etc), do it because they can't not do it; it's a compulsion,
a need to tell a story. E B White was a master of his craft.

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kevination
Thanks for posting this. In addition to his children's books, E.B White's
letters and essays are all wonderful. He was a big contributor to the New
Yorker for over 50 years. Reading the thoughts of such a great observer of the
world always picks me up when I'm feeling depressed.

~~~
gruseom
I agree with you. His language is magically buoyant.

