In Praise of Purple Prose: A Guide to Writing with Elegance, Opulence, and Indulgence
Apr 2027 · Princeton University Press
Ebook
256
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About this ebook
A playful and irreverent argument for—and practical guide to—writing in a rich and extraordinary style
When it comes to literary style, the commonplace wisdom of composition classrooms, newsrooms, and editorial offices has long been that less is more. Students are taught that the best prose is that which eschews ornamentation and rhetorical flourish. But what if sometimes more is more? In Praise of Purple Prose playfully and cheekily contests a century worth of convention that rejects the baroque and byzantine as “purple prose,” making the case that fun and joy in language can be as important as concision and comprehension. Part style guide and part manifesto, the book rewrites the rules on writing.
Ed Simon encourages writers to embrace the extraordinary, to call upon the classical rhetorical devices, and to relish in the richness of description and the erudition of allusion. He demonstrates that serpentine syntax, eccentric diction, and idiosyncratic punctuation, when used judiciously, can express the complexity of experience, bring out the pleasures of language, and help readers develop a unique voice in a world where AI threatens to make everyone sound alike. To illustrate its arguments, the book features examples of extraordinary prose from dozens of writers, including John Donne, Virginia Woolf, Joan Didion, Salman Rushdie, Marilynne Robison, and Zadie Smith.
Playful and provocative, In Praise of Purple Prose will leave readers with a new appreciation for fancy prose and inspire writers to draw on all of the liveliest and most powerful resources of English in their work.
When it comes to literary style, the commonplace wisdom of composition classrooms, newsrooms, and editorial offices has long been that less is more. Students are taught that the best prose is that which eschews ornamentation and rhetorical flourish. But what if sometimes more is more? In Praise of Purple Prose playfully and cheekily contests a century worth of convention that rejects the baroque and byzantine as “purple prose,” making the case that fun and joy in language can be as important as concision and comprehension. Part style guide and part manifesto, the book rewrites the rules on writing.
Ed Simon encourages writers to embrace the extraordinary, to call upon the classical rhetorical devices, and to relish in the richness of description and the erudition of allusion. He demonstrates that serpentine syntax, eccentric diction, and idiosyncratic punctuation, when used judiciously, can express the complexity of experience, bring out the pleasures of language, and help readers develop a unique voice in a world where AI threatens to make everyone sound alike. To illustrate its arguments, the book features examples of extraordinary prose from dozens of writers, including John Donne, Virginia Woolf, Joan Didion, Salman Rushdie, Marilynne Robison, and Zadie Smith.
Playful and provocative, In Praise of Purple Prose will leave readers with a new appreciation for fancy prose and inspire writers to draw on all of the liveliest and most powerful resources of English in their work.
A playful and irreverent argument for—and practical guide to—writing in a rich and extraordinary style
When it comes to literary style, the commonplace wisdom of composition classrooms, newsrooms, and editorial offices has long been that less is more. Students are taught that the best prose is t...
About the author
Ed Simon is Public Humanities Lecturer in English at Carnegie Mellon University and the editor in chief and founder of The Pittsburgh Review of Books. A monthly columnist at Literary Hub, he is the author of several books, including Devil’s Contract: The History of the Faustian Bargain, which was named a New Yorker Best Book of the Year.
Ed Simon is Public Humanities Lecturer in English at Carnegie Mellon University and the editor in chief and founder of The Pittsburgh Review of Books. A monthly columnist at Literary Hub, he is the author of several books, including Devil’s Contract: The History of the Faustian Bargain, which was...
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