Is Literature Supposed to be Convenient?

20th June 2007 with 4 Comments

John Liechty has a piece about the Orion Publishing Company’s decision to edit a series of classic books, stripping them down to around 30% to 40% of their original length.
Ray Bradbury foresees a time when books will be burned, or changed, or “corrected” – when Poe and Shakespeare will have the soul cut out of [...]

Filed under art, literature, quotations, reading
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About Writing:

Do not put statements in the negative form. And don't start sentences with a conjunction. If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do. Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all. De-accession euphemisms. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky. Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague. William Safire, Great Rules of Writing

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