Vernacular Eloquence

What Speech Can Bring to Writing

Bibliographic Data

ID19971523
AuthorsPeter Elbow (corresponding author)
Year2012
Pages442
Publication date2012-03-01
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueVernacular eloquence (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199782505.001.0001
OpenAlexW4254805028
Open LibraryOL25287602M
ISBN9780199782505
LanguageEN
Citations received10

This book examines the role of the spoken word in writing. It begins by questioning the basic cultural assumption that speaking and writing are two very different, incompatible modes of expression, and that we should keep them separate. The book explores the many linguistic and rhetorical virtues of speech—spontaneity, naturalness of expression, fluidity of thought—to show that many of these virtues can usefully be brought to writing. The book suggests that we begin the writing process by “speaking” our words onto the page, letting the words and ideas flow without struggling to be “correct.” Speaking can help us at the later stages of writing, too, as we read drafts aloud and then revise until the language feels right in the mouth and sounds right in the ear. The result is stronger, clearer, more natural writing that avoids the stilted, worried-over quality that so often alienates (and bores) the reader. The book connects these practices to a larger theoretical discussion of literacy in our culture, arguing that our rules for correct writing make it harder than necessary to write well. In particular, our culture's conception of proper writing devalues the human voice, the body, and the linguistic power of people without privilege

Art · Literature · Vernacular · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · Historical and Linguistic Studies · Berättande · Language and languages · Literarische Technik · Literaturproduktion · Narration (rhetoric) · Retorik · Rhetoric · Schriftliche Kommunikation · Sprechen · Stilistik · Style

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