What is good writing? As part of my profession, I'm expected to write a lot. And being in the lovely sector of front line management, I am expected to critique others writing. This is, of course, expected of everyone at my level or at a higher level. So, I find it quite delightful when the topic surrounds who is a good or great writer and who needs to improve. And now that I am finally diving into reading my 1001 books, I find the topic even more humorous. The first book I decided to tackle was The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan.
This is supposed to be good writing. However, if I were to write like Mr. Bunyan, I can guarantee I would be called a terrible writer with much improvement needed. So, how objectively can we judge writing. Is it based on the pure grammatical notions. (That does not appear to be the case because we have a former English teacher in our department and oftentimes he is in disagreement with the grammar rules our superiors are following ... so what gives?) So if what accounts for good writing is truly subjective, then how are we fairly and accurately assessing people's writing abilities?
This is a tough call, and one I have to deal with on a daily basis. Because I also am from the school of thought that there are many ways to write one good sentence. (This believe is not followed by everyone, as there are many who feel their way is the only way.) I wonder how many times I will ponder this as I read these books.
And while The Pilgrim's Progress is a little hard to follow at times, the imagery is splendid and the story is quite good. I can imagine it being read out loud to a church and being used as a way to get people to follow the laws of Christianity. So, even though the writing is quite difficult, I don't argue its place on the list.
No comments:
Post a Comment