THE
CRAFTSMANSHIP
OF WRITING
BY
FREDERIC TABER COOPER
NEW YORK
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
1920
Copyright, 1910, 1911
By DODD, MEAD & COMPANY
ARTHUR BARTLETT MAURICE
In recognition of long-standing and loyal friend-
ship as well as of his special kindliness
towards this particular volume,
it is herewith cordially
inscribed
The present volume is the outgrowth of
a course in essay writing, offered two years
ago in connection with the University Extension
work of Columbia University. It
embodies in part what the author then undertook
to teach his students, supplemented
by what the students quite unconsciously
taught the author. There was a class which,
taken collectively, offered much diversity of
scholarship, a wide range of preparation
for writing. Yet one and all of them presented
practically the same sort of problem;
one and all said in effect: "I have had such
and such training; I have worked hard and
willingly; yet my manuscripts do not sell.
What is the matter with my preparation?
What books should I read? What course
should I take?" And in a wider way, these
are the questions that are to-day being asked
throughout the length and breadth of this
continent. Now the purpose of this volume
is to answer these questions, by pointing
out that the fault is primarily with the would-be authors themselves, and not with
their preparation. The best teaching they
can anywhere receive is at most a makeshift,
a mere starting point; they must learn
to rely upon themselves, and the earlier the
better. The most that this book or any
other can do is to guide them away from
certain wrong paths and toward certain
right ones ; they must cultivate self-criticism,
industry, the art of taking infinite pains, the
habit of looking upon to-day's failures as
the stepping stones toward to-morrow's
success. The laurels of authorship are
worth the winning largely because there is
no primrose path leading to them.
New York: April 13, 1911.
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I | The inborn talent | 3 |
| II | The Power of self-criticism | 47 |
| III | The Author's Purpose | 79 |
| IV | The technique of form | 115 |
| V | The gospel of infinite pains | 153 |
| VI | The question of clearness | 179 |
| VII | The question of style | 209 |
| VIII | The technique of translating | 243 |
| Not listed on the contents page: | |
| 269 |
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1937, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 86 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse