Interview: Mark Garvey on “Stylized”
Last week, I had the pleasure of reviewing author and editor Mark Garvey’s Stylized: A Slightly Obsessive History of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style (if you missed it, check it out here). Today, we present an exclusive interview with Garvey, discussing his motivations and process in putting together this excellent history of, and homage to, Strunk and White’s “little book.”
AuthorScoop: For those who haven’t yet read “Stylized”, tell us a bit about your introduction to “The Elements of Style” and the impact it had on you and your writing.
Mark: I first became aware of The Elements of Style in high school (in the late 1970s), when it was a required text for several of our English classes. The book really hit home with me in college, when I began writing for my own pleasure, and I was becoming interested in how other writers had approached writing’s basic questions. What I found in Elements was a slim, succinct guide that laid out some useful, fundamental principles for writers in a memorable and enjoyable way. It covered the more mechanical concerns (punctuation and such) but it also expounded a philosophy of writing that seemed eminently sensible and attractive to me, a philosophy that stressed the values of simplicity, concision, and clarity and that pointed the book’s writing reader toward the discovery, the blossoming, of his own voice on the page. Elements gave me confidence in the idea that if I managed to internalize the fundamentals of grammar, spelling, word usage, and such, and if I absorbed the book’s lessons about clarity and brevity and naturalness, my own voice as a writer would eventually develop.I think that’s the promise Elements holds out to every writer.
AuthorScoop: When you first conceptualized the book, how close was your original vision to what it would eventually become?
Mark: The final shape of Stylized actually ended up being fairly close to the original conception. I had several goals in mind for the book when I began: to unearth new biographical detail on both authors, particularly as it related to The Elements of Style; to tell the story of the book’s history and influence; to include the thoughts of some of my favorite writers on Elements; and to weave in my own ideas about the reasons for the book’s long success. I think I got pretty close to reaching those broader goals. Now, as to whether my prose itself matches my initial vision—does it ever? Doesn’t it always seem to the writer that, given just one more week, just one more edit, the prose will really start to sing? But we do the best we can. One thing I’ve learned from working with writers in my longish career in publishing, and in my own writing, is that a deadline is a writer’s best friend. It keeps us productive and, I hope, keeps things from getting too precious and overdone.
AuthorScoop: I really enjoyed the quotes from various writers sprinkled throughout “Stylized”. Had you already collected them by the time you began work in earnest, or was it a process of discovery for you as you wrote?
Mark: I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the writers’ quotes. I think they add a nice dimension to the book, and I feel very fortunate that so many great writers wanted to participate. As for the timing, I conducted most of the interviews with the writers early on, as I was doing the other parts of my research, so when it came down to the actual writing, the interviews were available as part of my raw materials, and I was able to place them into the structure in a way that fit with my overall plan. But certainly, talking to the writers was a process of discovery for me. They contributed an interestingly nuanced range of opinions about Elements and about the style-related questions I posed. I still love hearing from writers about how they get their work done.
AuthorScoop: In your rather intriguing blog entry on Joyce’s “Ulysses”, you note that you don’t read a lot of fiction. In terms of the distinction between quality non-fiction and quality fiction (the quest for clear and concise prose in non-fiction versus a more elastic, “voice”-centric approach in fiction) do you think “The Elements of Style” serves one discipline better than the other?
Mark: I think Elements is commonly thought to be of more use to nonfiction writers than to fiction writers. I suppose there’s something to that, but much of the book’s advice, particularly the Strunk-heavy sections in the first four chapters—those chapters concerning things such as punctuation, word usage, and organization—are as pertinent to fiction writers as to anyone else. Fiction isn’t exempt from the necessity to pay attention to those elements. White’s essay in Chapter 5, “An Approach to Style,” does perhaps seem more directed at nonfiction writers, but to my way of thinking it would be the rare fiction writer who couldn’t find something of value in that chapter, too. Certainly there are books that are of more substantial help on the techniques of fiction writing, and I would expect would-be fiction writers to look to those books for advice that’s more specific to their work.
AuthorScoop: Considering the rapid evolution of language, the rise of experimentation in literature and the influx of slang into the mainstream over the past 50 years, do you think The Elements of Style can continue to hold its influence and intellectual authority for another half-century?
Mark: I think as long as Elements undergoes reasonable updating at reasonable intervals, particularly in the chapter called “Words and Expressions Commonly Misused,” as it did during White’s lifetime (he made changes and adjustments over three editions and countless printings), it should remain a standard. I don’t see its core premises being debunked any time soon. As New Yorker writer Alec Wilkinson says in Stylized, “Show me something better. Show me a better model. Lack of clarity? Slovenliness? Sloppiness? Show me something better.”
AuthorScoop: The history of “Elements”, particularly White’s determination in extending and expanding its influence, is really a very touching illustration of carrying forward the torch — not only for the benefit of future generations, but also as a way of honoring the past. Do you feel that your book has some of that to it?
Mark: I hope so. That’s a nice way to think about it. I know I undertook the project as a labor of love. Stylized is an homage to a book that has meant a lot to me and to countless other writers. Of course, neither E. B. White nor William Strunk Jr. needs me to keep the Elements legacy alive. Their work speaks for itself, and to far more readers than I will ever reach. I just wanted to tell the book’s story and express my enthusiasm for its message.
AuthorScoop
