Passionate and erudite, but with sharply focused appeal.
Veteran professor Landon (English/Univ. of Iowa; Understanding Thomas Berger, 2009, etc.) urges a return to the sentence theories and pedagogy of Francis Christensen, whose ideas about cumulative sentences held sway for about a decade 40 years ago.
The author outlines his objectives and beliefs early on, principal among them the notion that longer sentences are better sentences. The remainder of the book describes in detail the various ways to accomplish this aim. Landon clarifies the difference between grammar and rhetoric, defines a “kernel sentence,” then wades into the Grammar Sea, where he soon is thigh- and chest-deep in verbals, left- and right-branching sentences, dangling modifiers, “syntagmatic and paradigmatic aspects,” the concepts of sentence rhythm and a writer’s style, periodic and “suspensive” sentences, “phatic expressions,” balanced sentences and writing in triplets. He ends with what he calls “master sentences,” quoting examples from Pynchon, Didion and Berger (to whom he often alludes). This is no simple self-help text, despite the obligatory exercises at the end of each chapter. Landon aims at an educated, sophisticated audience, as this sentence illustrates: “This new category of suspensive structures consists largely of ‘phatic’ expressions whose functions are more social than discursive, frequently adding little or no propositional meaning to the sentences they extend.” Got that? There’s also an odd archaic whiff about some of his allusions. Although he mentions Google and iTunes, he also alludes to Dragnet and Morse code, and virtually all of his literary examples are from canonical writers—nothing here from Fifty Shades of Grey or even Stephen King. Landon does suggest that all of the techniques he outlines should be in the service of something—not just long sentences for their own sakes—and that writers should vary sentence length, a good idea.
Passionate and erudite, but with sharply focused appeal.Pub Date: June 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-452-29860-6
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Plume
Review Posted Online: April 2, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2013
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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