Muse & the Marketplace 2018

Vladimir Nabokov once remarked, “style and structure are the essence of a book. Great ideas are hogwash.”

This session will begin by posing the questions, “What is style?" and "How does the writer cultivate it?" Is style 'le mot juste,' the elegant turn of phrase, the startling epithet, the apt figure of speech? What about pauses, predicates, parallel structures, and punctuation? Is adherence to the "House style" a blessing or curse? How and when does style become manifest: through imagining, close listening, composing, or editing? What does it mean to the long form, the short? Can the writer 'improve' her style or only suffer the style she was born with? What is the role of influence-those authors we admire-and absorb, deliberately or unknowingly? If style emanates from your own being, as Katherine Anne Porter wrote, then variations are infinite.

We will examine some of the most vivid examples of prose style from the literary stars of our time, as well as the bright and wavering constellations of ages gone by; I’ll then introduce methods and exercises that writers can use to tease out their individual styles, when simple “emanations” elude us.