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THE ART OF PLAIN TALK by Rudolf Flesch

THE ART OF PLAIN TALK

By

Pub Date: Jan. 30th, 1945
Publisher: Harper

The how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people of rhetoric inspired by an intrinsically worthless yardstick formula to measure readability. Flesch's chief object is to be understood -- and by a seventh grade mentality. He discards Churchill's ""blood, sweat and tears"" speech as misleading because of its rhythm and symbolism; he seriously admonishes his readers never to use metaphors without explaining them. As the epitome of perfection in his beloved chummy style, the author quotes from Time and Westbrook Pegler. Incredibly poor literary taste -- naive -- superficial -- this is a demonstration that the author practises what he preaches. He may find his audience in the eighth grade.