The Elegant Variation: David Foster Wallace Did Not Answer His Phone.

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."

December 13, 2009

David Foster Wallace Did Not Answer His Phone.

The New Yorker, as you already know, has a new DFW story. The GQ blog has Deborah Treisman on DFW's methods of communication. You all have permission now to not answer your phones, ever. It's a relief, isn't it.

In other news, Conde Nast is now offering 12 issues of Gourmet for $100. Gourmet turns out to be more valuable than McKinsey thought!

This is some of the best news I've heard all week.

Posted by Katherine Taylor at 02:34 PM | Permalink

Comments

Katherine, I just want you to know I'm really grooving on your twee flack chat effluent as I rock Lady Gaga on my iPod here at the Starbucks at Wilshire and 26th.

Flack on, girl!

Posted by: Niall | December 13, 2009 at 04:01 PM

Thanks, Niall! In gratitude, here is John McEnroe having a tantrum:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekQ_Ja02gTY

Posted by: Katherine Taylor | December 13, 2009 at 05:51 PM

Just don't let that iPod fall into desuetude, Niall.

Twee-ly,

Posted by: RK | December 13, 2009 at 10:37 PM

RK- I'm post-modern. My iPod is empty. Like The Swimmer.

Posted by: Niall | December 13, 2009 at 11:04 PM

Shiz. I just answered the phone.

Loved that story in the NYer. (Our little man is very much into cement mixers.)

Posted by: Antoine Wilson | December 14, 2009 at 09:46 AM

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December 13, 2009