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  • 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."
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« THEY DO, HOWEVER, EXPERIENCE STABS OF IRRITATION WADING THROUGH PAGES AND PAGES OF FOOTNOTES | Main | BILL HICKS AT THE WAFFLE HOUSE »

February 09, 2005

TEV HAS LEFT THE BUILDING

Have we mentioned that we're moving?

Things are hectic and we're stressed and grumpy so we're going to focus on getting ourselves relocated and hand the reins of TEV over to the hardest working man in cyberspace, Dan Wickett of the Emerging Writers Network, which is dedicated to reviewing books, interviewing literary types and generally promoting literature.  He's a devoted advocate of overlooked books and authors and as any of the subscribers to his email newsletter can attest, he's absolutely tireless.  He'll be here tomorrow and Friday, and he's new to this blogging thing, so please make him feel at home.

Dolby On Monday Tuesday - at which point we'll probably still be soaking in Epsom salts - the Virtual Book Tour returns to The Elegant Variation.  Tom Dolby, author of San Francisco Chronicle Troubleboycover_1 bestseller The Trouble Boy, will be steering the ship and is sure to bring another interesting perspective to the joint.  His book is described as being "In the tradition of Bright Lights, Big City and Less Than Zero ... Tom Dolby has written a searing debut novel about going after what you really want without losing yourself in the process. Powerfully written, keenly felt, The Trouble Boy heralds an exciting new voice in fiction."

Finally, we'd be remiss if we didn't remind you to make a special effort to get out of the house, away from the computer and to check out the return to Chinatown (on Chinese New Year's, no less) of the Vermin on the Mount reading series.  We'll be there, even if they have to roll us in.

Oh, and this is the funniest thing we've read all week, spot-on perfect.  Quit your day job, Dan.

We'll be back in these parts Tuesday, blogging live from Santa Monica, with all the usual literary tomfoolery you've come to expect.  Or dread.  Until then, you'll be in good hands with all friends down the left side of the page.

Posted by TEV at 12:01 AM |

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