Kurt Vonnegut essay How to Write with Style provides writers with valuable information which will help them with their own writing. Vonnegut speaks from experience. He is the "author of such novels as Slaughterhouse-Five, Jailbird and Cat's Cradle" (p. 66) as well as many other novels and short stories. His book Cat's Cradle was reviewed as one of the best books of the twentieth century so it can be surmised that tips he provides in How to Write with Style have served him well.
Vonnegut breaks his essay into manageable subsections and in each subsection he provides examples to support his topic sentence. Interestingly, the examples he chooses to illustrate his points are from writers whom I always thought were outside my grasp. For example he refers to excerpts from Shakespeare, and Joyce, both themselves exceptionally accomplished writers.
Vonnegut doesn't insist that we write novels, but he encourages us to write about things we care. Great stories say ".... precisely what their authors meant them to say" (67) and do so by selecting the best words for the job. Neither does he set limits on what one can write about and points out the Americans are utterly unlimited on their topics unlike other countries.
Perhaps, for me, his best recommendation was that "if a sentence ... does not illuminate your subject in some new and useful way, scratch it out" (p. 66). It sure cut down on the filler in my paper for Engl 150.
Did you find any of the information particularly useful?
I found the whole aritcle useful. I think the point that i found most useful, was "don't ramble"...I may even use that when I am speaking...not just writing..LOL.
ReplyDeleteI found the article useful as well. The author definitely gave some good insights on how to develop style which is something I'd really like to work on!
ReplyDeleteHi Russ,
ReplyDeleteNice to open your blog this morning and read all your comments. If Vonnegut helped you cut out some filler on your essay, hurray!
I was lucky to attend a lecture he gave once in Stratford Ontario. He was in his seventies and I remember he talked about smoking and why he was still smoking at his age. He made everyone laugh.
I read a lot of his books when I was younger. He introduced me to the idea of criticizing one's own country, an idea they don't teach you in grade school.
Laurie