The Elegant Variation: THE GREAT SUMMER READ

TEV DEFINED

The Elegant Variation is "Fowler’s (1926, 1965) term for the inept writer’s overstrained efforts at freshness or vividness of expression. Prose guilty of elegant variation calls attention to itself and doesn’t permit its ideas to seem naturally clear. It typically seeks fancy new words for familiar things, and it scrambles for synonyms in order to avoid at all costs repeating a word, even though repetition might be the natural, normal thing to do: The audience had a certain bovine placidity, instead of The audience was as placid as cows. Elegant variation is often the rock, and a stereotype, a cliché, or a tired metaphor the hard place between which inexperienced or foolish writers come to grief. The familiar middle ground in treating these homely topics is almost always the safest. In untrained or unrestrained hands, a thesaurus can be dangerous."

June 25, 2004

THE GREAT SUMMER READ

Publisher's Weekly (by subscription only) reoprts that the New York Times will serialize for books in their entirety for something called "The Great Summer Read". Here's the relevant section:

Each book will be published in its entirety, in seven installments that will begin on a Monday and culminate the following Sunday. The daily excerpts will appear in a 16-page newsprint supplement similar to the New York Times Book Review. It will launch on July 12 with The Great Gatsby, followed by, at two-week intervals, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Like Water for Chocolate and The Color of Water.

You know, it's a nice enough idea - we're for anything that gets people to read - but how serializing new, or better yet, unknown fiction?

Posted by TEV at 12:18 AM | Permalink

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My paper did not include an installment on 07/16/04. Was there one? How can it be obtained?

Posted by: Irwin E Kaplan | July 16, 2004 at 06:17 AM

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The Elegant Variation

A Literary Weblog.
A Guardian Top 10 Literary Blog * A Forbes "Best of the Web" Pick * A Los Angeles Magazine Top Los Angeles Blog
"Really brave ... or really stupid" - NPR

MY NOVEL

WORTHY READINGS

BEST SMALL PRESSES

Barking at the Moon

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June 25, 2004

THE GREAT SUMMER READ

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THIS GUN FOR HIRE:
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SECOND LOOK

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The Elegant Variation

A Literary Weblog. A Guardian Top 10 Literary Blog * A Forbes "Best of the Web" Pick * A Los Angeles Magazine Top Los Angeles Blog "Really brave ... or really stupid" - NPR

MY NOVEL

WORTHY READINGS

BEST SMALL PRESSES

Barking at the Moon

TEV DEFINED

SEARCH ME

Other Stuff

About

June 25, 2004

THE GREAT SUMMER READ

TrackBack

Comments

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

Post a comment

RECOMMENDED

THIS GUN FOR HIRE: Reviews & Criticism

SECOND LOOK

Categories

LITERARY LOS ANGELES

BUY INDEPENDENT!

Archives

A Literary Weblog.
A Guardian Top 10 Literary Blog * A Forbes "Best of the Web" Pick * A Los Angeles Magazine Top Los Angeles Blog
"Really brave ... or really stupid" - NPR

THIS GUN FOR HIRE:
Reviews & Criticism