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Saturday, 13 December 2008
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. Posted on 12/13/2008 6:59 AM by Mary Jackson
Comments
13 Dec 2008
 Hugh Fitzgerald
What's wrong with having nothing to say? Writing is even more of a feat when a writer starts out with nothing but that nothing to say. Writers who have something to say, and what's more insist on saying it, are a dime a dozen. 13 Dec 2008
Mary Jackson Nothing will come of nothing. I'm thinking of the post-modern-metatwaddlers who burble on about bugger all, and who have featured in my Pseudsday Tuesday columns. 14 Dec 2008
Bob White
In Westport, Connecticut works a physician named Doctor. He is Dr. Doctor. His wife is a doctor. Together they are the Doctors Doctor. The physicians who treat them when they are ill are the Doctors Doctor's doctors. Not exactly "onions, onions, onions", but factual. Conan Doyle chose Watson to be a doctor. It convinces because we know some doctors to be clear and precise. James Michener described his success as being able to get people to read to the end of the page. Not a fan myself, but his popularity and the heft of his tomes suggests that he had found the knack. Are clarity and precision essential in getting people to read to the end of the page? Usually, I would say, even when seeming to write about nothing. The writing may be desultory, or have no main topic whatsoever, may have no point or direction, yet capture and hold the reader's attention. Still, on that random walk, one expects clear and precise narration. Exceptions abound. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" comes to mind. Wonderful, but in part because of what is left unreported and unclear. "A pair of ragged claws" is imprecise, but effective. |