Book Description
Designed for literature classes that only need the essentials, The PORTABLE LITERATURE: READING, REACTING, WRITING, Sixth Edition is the affordable, portable alternative to full length-or even compact-introduction to literature texts.
Customer Reviews:
Portable Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing.......2007-09-19
This book is a good small edition to the full-sized book. While it is off in page numbers, and thusly creates the need to admit to not having the full text, the book itself had everything I needed for my class.
Average customer rating:
- Seminal Text For Writers
- You cannot stop a bandersnatch.
- Excellent guide to writing
- One For Your Library.
- Clear as a bell
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The Art of Nonfiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers
Ayn Rand
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The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers
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Philosophy: Who Needs It
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The Journals of Ayn Rand
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The Romantic Manifesto
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Ayn Rand Answers: The Best of Her Q & A
ASIN: 0452282314
Release Date: 2001-01-30 |
Amazon.com
In The Art of Nonfiction, Ayn Rand spends six pages explaining why something she wrote about the launching of Apollo II is far superior to something Loudon Wainwright wrote about it; throughout the book, she uses her own work as examples of exemplary writing. Somehow, though, Rand's robust ego is less unbearable here than it is in, say, her Art of Fiction.
This book is a frank demystification of the writing process that originated as a series of lectures given in 1969 to friends and other potential contributors to Rand's magazine, The Objectivist. "Any person who can speak English grammatically can learn to write nonfiction," Rand declares. All you need "is what you need for life in general: an orderly method of thinking." Rand values clarity above all else in nonfiction writing, and it is her own clearheadedness that makes this book appealing. Within these pages, Rand discusses subject and theme, audience, philosophy, outlines, writing, and editing. She takes swipes at The New Yorker for its "'brilliant' essays that say nothing," and at William Buckley, whose "trademark is to use words he probably spends half his time looking up in the dictionary." She rails against disruptions ("When I was writing Atlas Shrugged, I accepted neither day nor evening appointments, with rare exceptions, for roughly thirteen years"). And she is an exacting taskmaster who demands that you not choose a lesser aspect of a subject than "the deepest one that interests you and that you can do." Finally, says Rand, you must write from a position of complete confidence and omnipotence. "While you are writing," she says, "you must be God's perfect creature (if there were a God)." --Jane Steinberg
Book Description
A remarkable series of lectures on the art of creating effective nonfiction by one of the 20th century's most profound writers and thinkers-now available for the first time in print.
Culled from sixteen informal lectures Ayn Rand delivered to a select audience in the late 1960s, this remarkable work offers indispensable guidance to the aspiring writer of nonfiction while providing readers with a fascinating discourse on art and creation. Based on the concept that the ability to create quality nonfiction is a skill that can be learned like any other, The Art of Nonfiction takes readers through the writing process, step-by-step, providing insightful observations and invaluable techniques along the way.
In these edited transcripts, Rand discusses the psychological aspects of writing, and the different roles played by the conscious and subconscious mind. From choosing a subject to polishing a draft to mastering an individual writing style-for authors of theoretical works or those leaning toward journalistic reporting-this crucial resource introduces the words and ideas of one of our most enduring authors to a new generation.
Customer Reviews:
Seminal Text For Writers .......2007-05-26
Ayn Rand is one of the foremost communicators of our time. Her ability to communicate complex issues cogently, logically and passionately means that, decades later, her works are still being sited as `the text' to read, in politics, philosophy or morality. Clarity, integration and style are thoroughly discussed. The advice given here applies to all non-fiction writing (see also her book on fiction writing The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers) and it's not the usual recycled blurb. Rand's method of thinking, led to her method of writing and style. This book lets you into some of those secrets and allows anybody to improve their writing skills.
You cannot stop a bandersnatch........2007-02-05
I was rather impressed with what Rand had to say about writing and style. As the authoress of the second-most influential book ("Atlas Shrugged"), she has a lot to say on the matter. And, as always, you cannot stop a bandersnatch.
There are some preliminaries. First, as with all of her writings, this book's ideas are outgrowths of her philosophy of Objectivism. For Rand aficionados, you know that it keeps cropping up with everything that she writes. So if you either agree with her, or are willing to plow around it, then get this book.
Second, this book is really edited selections from a longer seminar she had on writing. If the discussion seems out of joint at times, it is due to the selecting/editing process. To help round out here ideas, I suggest reading "The Art of Writing Fiction" and "The Romanic Manifesto," all of which were extracted from this same meeting.
Rand is one of the finest systematic thinkers ever, and this book shows it. She is able to take something apart, separate, correlate, and analyze the parts, and then put it back together again.
By being so analytical, she gets the writing process right. The first five chapters are really the basting cap essential in explosive writing. Writing can be simplified by preparation, organization, and thinking, which is the message of these chapters.
Chapters 5 through 8 cover the more traditional nuts and bolts of writing. Chapter 5, on creating an outline, is the key link between thinking and writing. She is right when suggesting that everyone writing nonfiction should use an outline. It organizes both the mind and the writing. I was glad that the editors included some sample outlines of Rand's writing, to watch how the process proceeds from outline to full article.
I think out of all of the chapters, "Writing the Draft" was the most helpful. The editor subtitled it "The primacy of the subconscious." This highlights Rand's point that writing is really something that comes spontaneously form a disciplined mind. Furthermore, the chapter contains several subsections on "The Squirms," helpful mulling, euthanizing pet sentences, and handling interruptions.
This last point cannot be emphasized too much: writing is a job, and it takes concentration. Rand likens it to heating a blast furnace--you work up to a high temperature, and that temperature must be maintained for weeks to get the desired results. While writing "Atlas Shrugged," she had to sequester herself for thirteen years.
I have a similar experience while writing. People visibly see you clacking on the computer, but what they do not see is the amount of focus inside your head, invisible to your eyes. So they want you to answer the phone, run this errand, baby-sit, chat, paint a house, watch some idiotizing program on TV, or come in on your day off because so-and-so called in sick so they could stay home watching some idiotizing program on TV. You need to be as harsh with writing as you would with your bill-paying job. Indeed, a good writer sees writing AS A SECOND JOB!
The last chapters are a potpourri of topics that did not fit in either "The Romantic Manifesto" or "The Art of Fiction." They are helpful for what they are, but seem a bit out of place and curt. They serve as surveys to the topics.
The only critique I have would be rearranging the chapters. Move chapter 12 ("Acquiring Ideas For Writing") up between chapters 1 and 2, since the thinking process--the process of reverie and listening to the unconscious percolate--precedes the choice of a subject and theme. I would also move chapter 11 ("Selecting a title") to go after chapter 7 ("Editing"), and moved chapter 8 ("Style") between the chapters on writing the draft and editing. Since this book was edited posthumously, this organizational error is not hers.
Here is my ideal order:
1. Preliminary remarks
2. Acquiring Ideas for Writing
3. Choosing a Subject and Theme
4. Judging one's Audience
5. Applying Philosophy
6. Creating an Outline
7. Writing the Draft
8. Style
9. Editing
10. Selecting a Title
11. Book Reviews
12. Writing a Book
Appendix: Outlines
For a second or third reading, it may be helpful to use this order, since it follows the process of thinking-writing-rewriting.
*
I have put this book in my mix of style guides, and will read it along with Strunk and White, Trimble's "Writing With Style," The Chicago Manual, and "The Little, Brown Handbook."
(I would rate it five stars, but the disordered chapter organization talked me out of it.)
Excellent guide to writing.......2006-11-03
This book offers guidance on a variety of topics and problems that a writer of non-fiction, whether articles or books, might encounter. The advice is never formulaic, but rather gives the reader methods by which to improve his own writing process and style. Highly recommended.
One For Your Library........2006-02-23
It starts slow and plods along for a few chapters but eventually Rand strikes a resonant chord and the writing comes to life. Ayn Rand will get your mind 'right' about writing and get your mental tool-box organized, to handle odd-jobs or the magnum-opus.
Clear as a bell.......2005-08-09
As with so much of Ayn Rand's writing, she takes on an issue (in this case, nonfiction writing) that seems hopelessly complex, and then explains it with such clarity that you're left wondering what all the confusion was about in the first place. If you're stuck in your writing, even if you've never read anything by Rand before, this book is priceless.
Book Description
Autobiographical Writing Across the Disciplines reveals the extraordinary breadth of the intellectual movement toward self-inclusive scholarship. Presenting exemplary works of criticism incorporating personal narratives, this volume brings together twenty-seven essays from scholars in literary studies and history, mathematics and medicine, philosophy, music, film, ethnic studies, law, education, anthropology, religion, and biology. Pioneers in the development of the hybrid genre of personal scholarship, the writers whose work is presented here challenge traditional modes of inquiry and ways of knowing. In assembling their work, editors Diane P. Freedman and Olivia Frey have provided a rich source of reasons for and models of autobiographical criticism.
The editors’ introduction presents a condensed history of academic writing, chronicles the origins of autobiographical criticism, and emphasizes the role of feminism in championing the value of personal narrative to disciplinary discourse. The essays are all explicitly informed by the identities of their authors, among whom are a feminist scientist, a Jewish filmmaker living in Germany, a potential carrier of Huntington’s disease, and a doctor pregnant while in medical school. Whether describing how being a professor of ethnic literature necessarily entails being an activist, how music and cooking are related, or how a theology is shaped by cultural identity, the contributors illuminate the relationship between their scholarly pursuits and personal lives and, in the process, expand the boundaries of their disciplines.
Contributors:
Kwame Anthony Appiah
Ruth Behar
Merrill Black
David Bleich
James Cone
Brenda Daly
Laura B. DeLind
Carlos L. Dews
Michael Dorris
Diane P. Freedman
Olivia Frey
Peter Hamlin
Laura Duhan Kaplan
Perri Klass
Muriel Lederman
Deborah Lefkowitz
Eunice Lipton
Robert D. Marcus
Donald Murray
Seymour Papert
Carla T. Peterson
David Richman
Sara Ruddick
Julie Tharp
Bonnie TuSmith
Alex Wexler
Naomi Weisstein
Patricia Williams
Book Description
The Sighted Singer makes available a revised and significantlyexpanded version of Against Our Vanishing and includes Grossman's recent treatise "Summa Lyrica: A Primer of the Commonplaces in Speculative Poetry." This combined edition provides a sophisticated yet accessible discussion--across generations--of "the fundamental discourse of poetic structure."
Customer Reviews:
A Tractatus for poetics.......2000-03-24
This is an unusual but wonderful book for writers. Imagine a slightly more mystical Wittgenstein retreated to Galway Ireland and returned with a manuscript on the subjet of poetry: The Sighted Singer could be that manuscript.One some level this analogy is entirely superficial: the numbered section and paragraph organization is a direct descendent of Wittgenstein's Tractatus. But the Sighted Singer shares much more with the Tractatus than that: poetic thinking so rigorous it becomes almost mystical, a ladder one must pull up after one has climbed up it.Whether the author's poetics are "right" or "true" is almost inconsequential. His propositions are so challenging and so thought-provoking that the mere experience of reading this book is valuable.If you are a writer or serious reader of poetry, this book will make you more serious about the task at hand in either endeavor.
Book Description
Documents the major stages in the debate about film authorship.
Average customer rating:
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Those Who Can: A Science Fiction Reader
Manufacturer: St Martins Pr
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Paragons: Twelve Master Science Fiction Writers Ply Their Crafts
ASIN: 0312141394 |
Amazon.com
A provocative collection of stories by science fiction's finest, including Samuel R. Delany, Kate Wilhelm, Harlan Ellison, Ursula K. LeGuin, and many others. Accompanying each story is an eloquent critical essay in which the writer discusses one particular aspect of his or her story. This classic is an invaluable book for anyone interested in the art and craft of science fiction writing.
Book Description
This reference guide can serve as either a supplementary text for high school and introductory college literature courses, or as a general style manual for writers and writing instructors. The first of the book's two major sections focuses on the parts and principles of literature. These are elements students must understand and master as they develop the interpretive and critical reading skills they'll need in order to understand the works of major British and American writers. The book's second section shows students how to put newly learned principles of literature to work in developing their own writing skills, both for class papers and manuscripts intended for publication.
Customer Reviews:
Helpful Guide to Literary Studies.......2002-05-20
I recently used this book in preparing my AP students to take the English Literature and Composition exam. It was very helpful. The book is well organized and covers all the basics of reading and writing about literature. It is easy to use and explains its terms well. Recommended for anyone who wants to improve his or her grade in English.
Average customer rating:
- WHY ISN'T THIS BOOK ON THE BESTSELLER LIST?
- Spectacularly Interesting!
- Depressing look into the world of authors
- READ IT
- A Celebration of Creative Writing
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The Making of a Bestseller: From Author to Reader
Arthur T., II Vanderbilt
Manufacturer: McFarland & Company
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0786406631 |
Book Description
Writer F. Scott Fitzgerald's career itself is a metaphor for the vagaries of book publishing. If Fitzgerald would have had his way, we would today refer to The Great Gatsby as either Gold-Hatted Gatsby, Trimalchio in West Egg, or The High-Bouncing Lover. A few years before Gatsby, Fitzgerald had become a literary sensation at the age of 23; Helen Hooven Santmyer, a contemporary of Fitzgerald's, would not have a successful novel published until she was 88 and living in a nursing home. In this book, the author explores that mysterious place in publishing where art and commerce can either clash, mesh, or both. Along the way, a wide range of authors-from the literary greats to today's commercial superstars-editors, agents and publishers share their thoughts, insights and experiences: What inspires writers? (John Steinbeck, for example, wrote every novel as if it were his last, as if death were imminent.) Why are some books successful and appreciated, while others fall into oblivion? The answers are often elusive, never absolute, but the stories and anecdotes are always fascinating.
Customer Reviews:
WHY ISN'T THIS BOOK ON THE BESTSELLER LIST?.......2004-01-23
For anyone who loves good writing, THIS IS ESSENTIAL READING. It's a well-kept secret. If you want the real low-down, get a copy now.
Spectacularly Interesting!.......2001-02-08
This book was lent to me by a University Professor who recommended it as the most comprehensive and thought-provoking study of the publishing industry he's read in years. I couldn't agree more. As a potential author, I found The Making of a Bestseller an encouraging and thought-provoking work. It offers a clear look into the world of publishing, therefore, demystifying the process for those of us just embarking on this sometimes frustrating journey. Insightful and uplifting, one cannot fail to come away without a great deal of encouragement. I, for one, found myself wondering, if F. Scott Fitzgerald faced similar adversity and prevailed, why can't I? One thing we writers must learn: A thick skin is required in this business. This book is not for the unrealistic or faint-hearted. But neither is a career in writing.
Depressing look into the world of authors.......2001-01-31
If you ever had hopes of becoming an author, NEVER read this book. A look into how the technical process of writing works, all this book shows the reader is the various disappointments that an author will encounter while trying to get his book published.
Although it presents what I imagine to be a realistic view of the creative process, the author presents a plethora of examples of well-known authors and their experiences. The problem? He uses the exact same examples over and over again. The language that he uses is very colloquial and the laid back tone is quite surprising, considering it is a "scholarly" work.
The biggest problem I have with the book is this. How is it possible for an author that is clearly not a best-selling author know what exactly the best-selling process is like? If not for the examples of other authors, it would be impossible for him to talk about the process.
All in all, this book was a big disappointment, and all it shows is the negative aspect to book publishing.
READ IT.......2000-07-06
This is a great book and I thought I'd say so. I found an interview with the author on the internet and bought the book. I wondered why I didn't see it interviewed in any of the publications I subscribe to--especially Writer's Digest. Do we really need another Harry Potter review? Everybody loves those books--they sell themselves. Hey reviewers--We want to hear about books like this one!
A Celebration of Creative Writing.......2000-03-27
This hand-wringing book is about bestsellers; it does not (and can not) define how bestsellers are made. This celebration of creative writing is about writers paying their dues and being discovered. Vanderbilt discusses the effects titles, advertising, author name recognition, perseverance, bestseller lists, reviews, testimonials and blind, dumb luck had on books that made it to the charts. It is a well-written, scholarly study of successful literature with references and footnotes. This book makes a couple of references to nonfiction but is almost entirely about fiction. If you like this book, you will also like Seven Strategies in Every Bestseller by Tam Mossman. I liked them both. Dan Poynter, author of 82 books (nonfiction). DanPoynter@ParaPublishing.com
Book Description
Authorship in film has been a persistent theme in the field of cinema studies. This volume of new work revitalizes the question of authorship by connecting it to larger issues of identity--in film, in the marketplace, in society, in culture. Essays range from the auteur theory and Casablanca to Oscar Micheaux, from the American avant-garde to community video, all illuminating how "authorship" is a complex idea with far-reaching implications. This ambitious and wide-ranging book will be essential reading for anyone concerned with film studies and the concept of the author.
Average customer rating:
- This is a great book for anyone interested in improving their critical thinking skills.
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Strategies for Reading and Arguing About Literature
Meg Morgan ,
Kim Stallings , and
Julie Townsend
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
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The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing
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ASIN: 013093853X |
Customer Reviews:
This is a great book for anyone interested in improving their critical thinking skills. .......2007-02-25
The book is straightforward and pratical. If you are thinking about going back to school, this book will get you up to speed on writing. I used this book with the "Craft of Reasearch" and "The Nuts-and-Bolts of Writing." If you are having problems with grammar, buy one of the Diana Hacker book on grammar. You will see improvements in your writing if you use more than one reference with this text. This book is a bit preachy.
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