On the Art of Writing: Lectures Delivered in the University of Cambridge 1913-1914

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, New Age, History, Fiction & Literature
Cover of the book On the Art of Writing: Lectures Delivered in the University of Cambridge 1913-1914 by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch, Library of Alexandria
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch ISBN: 9781465594143
Publisher: Library of Alexandria Publication: March 8, 2015
Imprint: Language: English
Author: Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
ISBN: 9781465594143
Publisher: Library of Alexandria
Publication: March 8, 2015
Imprint:
Language: English
By recasting these lectures I might with pains have turned them into a smooth treatise. But I prefer to leave them (bating a very few corrections and additions) as they were delivered. If, as the reader will all too easily detect, they abound no less in repetitions than in arguments dropped and left at loose ends—the whole bewraying a man called unexpectedly to a post where in the act of adapting himself, of learning that he might teach, he had often to adjourn his main purpose and skirmish with difficulties—they will be the truer to life; and so may experimentally enforce their preaching, that the Art of Writing is a living business. Bearing this in mind, the reader will perhaps excuse certain small vivacities, sallies that meet fools with their folly, masking the main attack. That, we will see, is serious enough; and others will carry it on, though my effort come to naught. It amounts to this—Literature is not a mere Science, to be studied; but an Art, to be practised. Great as is our own literature, we must consider it as a legacy to be improved. Any nation that potters with any glory of its past, as a thing dead and done for, is to that extent renegade. If that be granted, not all our pride in a Shakespeare can excuse the relaxation of an effort—however vain and hopeless—to better him, or some part of him. If, with all our native exemplars to give us courage, we persist in striving to write well, we can easily resign to other nations all the secondary fame to be picked up by commentators.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
By recasting these lectures I might with pains have turned them into a smooth treatise. But I prefer to leave them (bating a very few corrections and additions) as they were delivered. If, as the reader will all too easily detect, they abound no less in repetitions than in arguments dropped and left at loose ends—the whole bewraying a man called unexpectedly to a post where in the act of adapting himself, of learning that he might teach, he had often to adjourn his main purpose and skirmish with difficulties—they will be the truer to life; and so may experimentally enforce their preaching, that the Art of Writing is a living business. Bearing this in mind, the reader will perhaps excuse certain small vivacities, sallies that meet fools with their folly, masking the main attack. That, we will see, is serious enough; and others will carry it on, though my effort come to naught. It amounts to this—Literature is not a mere Science, to be studied; but an Art, to be practised. Great as is our own literature, we must consider it as a legacy to be improved. Any nation that potters with any glory of its past, as a thing dead and done for, is to that extent renegade. If that be granted, not all our pride in a Shakespeare can excuse the relaxation of an effort—however vain and hopeless—to better him, or some part of him. If, with all our native exemplars to give us courage, we persist in striving to write well, we can easily resign to other nations all the secondary fame to be picked up by commentators.

More books from Library of Alexandria

Cover of the book The Cruise of the Nonsuch Buccaneer by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book Field Mice as Farm and Orchard Pests: Farmers' Bulletin 670 by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book The First Seven Divisions: Being a Detailed Account of The Fighting from Mons to Ypres by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book Jewish Theology: Systematically and Historically Considered by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book Of the Independency of Parliament by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book Babylonian Penitential Psalms by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book Egyptian Birds: For the Most Part Seen in the Nile Valley by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book Diccionario Ingles-Español-Tagalog Con partes de la oracion y pronunciacion figurada by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book The Seat of Empire by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book Le Culte Du Moi: Sous L'Oeil Des Barbares, Un Homme Libre, Le Jardin De Bérénice (Complete) by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book Study of the King James Bible by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book Woman's Life in Colonial Days by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book The Bath Road: History, Fashion & Frivolity on an Old Highway by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book The Three Perils of Man: War, Women, and Witchcraft (Complete) by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy