Review by Choice Review
Contradictions abound in this book. For instance, the authors spend considerable time detailing the virtues of classic style, a style they find timeless, elegant, supple, and clear. But then they admit that this style is rooted in incoherent assumptions and conveys the false impression that a chaotic, complex world is static, simple, and easily understood. The authors do not appear bothered by this contradiction, or by the fact that the beautiful prose of Jane Austen is grounded in an ill-conceived theoretical stance. In fact, the authors invite their readers to disregard the theoretical issues they raise and use their book as "a guide to learning classic style." This advice is the oddest contradiction of all. On almost every page, the following point is stressed: Style cannot be learned from a book that asks readers to mimic the surface structure of a given text. Yet in their attempt to offer their own readers a way of learning classic style, the authors provide numerous examples that students should presumably use as models. If some space had been devoted to a full exploration of these contradictions, this book would have been an enlightening discussion of some very important issues. But as it stands, it is little more than another introductory rhetoric filled with some wonderful examples of very good writing. Undergraduate and up; teaching assistants. J. Aber; College of Mount St. Joseph
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Thomas and Turner engagingly delineate the attributes of a classic style of writing. At the outset, they dispute the long-held notion of style as the act of acquiring "mechanical techniques." The idea they put forward is that styles are conceptually based forms of writing, not merely familiar rules or "surface details," such as those found in The Elements of Style (Strunk and White). The authors trace the origins of classic style back to examples of Greek and Latin writing and describe each of the fundamental points of the classic writing mode: truth, presentation, scene, and thought and language. In the second half, Thomas and Turner cite examples of classic style in excerpts from the writing of well-known literary figures. ~--Alice Joyce
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Thomas (humanities, Truman Coll.) and Turner (English, Univ. of Maryland) here consider classic prose style, first carefully distinguishing it from the more modern usage of style, i.e., standard presentation formats. The authors explain how to distinguish classic from other styles, defining it as the presentation of truth, the simplicity and clarity of the prose eliminating the need to promote opinion or to contest an idea aggressively. It's the most genteel of styles, difficult to perfect and thus in decline. The first half of this book is explanatory; the second is a collection of short samples with analysis. The samples reach a bit-e.g., Alan Greenspan's report to Congress is acknowledged obfuscation. Whether they can spark a revival in classic writing is uncertain, but Thomas and Turner serve their topic well. A good choice for the serious stylist and those learning the craft.-Robert C. Moore, Information Svcs., Dupont Merck Pharmaceuticals, North Billerica, Mass. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
