Wednesday morning

Thinking about things: Writing and revision and the like. To prepare for my class. We are studying the notion of revision: what it means and how it is enacted. Here is something I will have my students read and think about today. I like this piece.

August 2, 1942

The Author of "One Man's Meat" Talks About Writing and Country Living

By ROBERT VAN GELDER

E. B. White, the reasonable, truthful writer who set the style for the Notes and Comments page of The New Yorker, wrote a lot of captions and headlines and tag lines for news breaks, and for many years (with James Thurber) wrote the Talk of the Town, came down from Maine last week and submitted to an interview--if you can call it an interview when the interviewee says "Who? Me?" to a good many of the questions.

He did say, "The main thing I try to do is write as clearly as I can. Because I have the greatest respect for the reader, and if he's going to the trouble of reading what I've written--I'm a slow reader myself and I guess most people are--why the least I can do is make it as easy as possible for him to find out what I'm trying to say, trying to get at. I rewrite a good deal to make it clear.

"All this about inspiration. . . . Now look, I can't tell you anything about methods of work. . . . But I do think that all this about inspiration--I think writing is mainly work. Like a mechanic's job. A mechanic might as well say he was waiting for inspiration before he greased your car because if he didn't feel just right he'd miss a lot of the grease points, that he had to feel right up to it.

"And of how people get their effects. Every once in a while some one who is putting together a reader--you know, a book of extra reading for an English class--writes for permission to use a piece of mine. I always say 'Sure--thanks very much,' but the last time I said 'Go ahead and use what you want, but how about sending me one of the books?' When I was in school, books of that kind were full of Walter Pater. I thought they must be changing their pace a lot, wanting my stuff.

"He sent me the book and I read my piece in it. At the end there were a lot of questions: 'Why did Mr. White use repetition here?' was one question. And 'Explain the author's purpose in inserting this phrase.'

"Gosh, those questions aren't easy. I tried to answer them and flunked cold. I admit there was repetition there, but I hadn't realized it. Anyway, I couldn't think of a good sound reason why I'd used it. . . ."

[excerpt from the New York Times August 2, 1942]