“OVERLONG SENTENCE. Sentences should not be so long that the reader loses his way in them.”—Robert Graves and Alan Hodge, with one of 16 principles related to “grace of expression,” in The Reader Over Your Shoulder: A Handbook for Writers of English Prose
Poet, novelist, and memoirist Graves (in the image accompanying this post), born on this date in 1895, also co-produced, with Hodge, what is arguably the most audacious of the many guides to clear modern prose. I say “audacious” because how many other writers would list George Bernard Shaw, Ernest Hemingway and Aldous Huxley among the sinners against the sound English sentence? If even such illuminati were guilty of the some literary transgression, perhaps there’s hope for the rest of us.
Poet, novelist, and memoirist Graves (in the image accompanying this post), born on this date in 1895, also co-produced, with Hodge, what is arguably the most audacious of the many guides to clear modern prose. I say “audacious” because how many other writers would list George Bernard Shaw, Ernest Hemingway and Aldous Huxley among the sinners against the sound English sentence? If even such illuminati were guilty of the some literary transgression, perhaps there’s hope for the rest of us.
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