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Doctor Doctor
Reviewing Theodore Dalrymple's Not with a Bang but with a Wimper: The Politics and Culture of Decline, Patrick Keeney writes:
It is a literary curiosity that so many physicians write so well. From Anton Chekhov to Somerset Maugham to Williams Carlos Williams, to more contemporary examples such as Lewis Thomas, the late Michael Crichton or last year's Giller Prize winner, Vincent Lam, there is no shortage of doctors who excel at the literary arts.
It may be a “literary curiosity”, but it is not surprising that doctors, or other writers whose “day job” is scientific or technical, often write better than full-time practitioners or teachers of “the literary arts”. A doctor, scientist or engineer has a vested interest in clarity and precision; if he fails to get his meaning across, the wrong limb may be cut off, or the bridge may fall down. In contrast, a writer or professor of literature is motivated to write obscurely. If he writes clearly, readers may realise that he has nothing to say, and his reputation will collapse.
There are exceptions, of course, but not enough of them.
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