Literary Safari

Two great pieces I came across today.

1) An ode to editors at Salon. In “Let us now praise editors,” Gary Kamiya writes:

To people not in the business, editing is a mysterious thing. (Actually, it’s mysterious to most bloggers, who despite having been in existence for less than 10 years, probably outnumber every writer who ever wrote. But more on them later.) Many times over the past 20 years, people have asked me, “What exactly does an editor do?”

It’s not an easy question to answer. Editors are craftsmen, ghosts, psychiatrists, bullies, sparring partners, experts, enablers, ignoramuses, translators, writers, goalies, friends, foremen, wimps, ditch diggers, mind readers, coaches, bomb throwers, muses and spittoons — sometimes all while working on the same piece. …

So often, I’m asked: What do you do as an editor? I loved this piece because it demystifies what we editors do … and appreciates the challenges we face everyday. Thank you Gary Kamiya!

2) The occasional NPR series “You Must Read This” asks writers to reflect on their favorite books/essays. I love this piece by Lawrence Wright about George Orwell’s essay “Politics and the English Language.”

In 1946, that Orwell wrote his great essay, “Politics and the English Language,” which I first read as a freshman at Tulane University and immediately adopted as my guide. Over the years, I’ve gone back to it repeatedly, like a student visiting an old professor who always has something new to reveal.

Orwell’s proposition is that modern English, especially written English, is so corrupted by bad habits that it has become impossible to think clearly. The main enemy, he believed, was insincerity, which hides behind the long words and empty phrases that stand between what is said and what is really meant.

A scrupulous writer, Orwell notes, will ask himself: What am I trying to say? What words will express it? What fresh image will make it clearer? Could I put it more shortly? Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly? The alternative is simply “throwing your mind open and letting the ready-made phrases come crowding in. ..” [you can read Orwell's essay here]

As I was reading this piece, a memory came back to me: During my first week at my first editing job, the editor-in-chief handed me a small bit of paper with six rules of writing (thanks, Charlie!). There was no source or attribution for these rules, and although I’ve carried them around with me ever since (they’re tacked up above my desk), I never thought to look for their source. (Dummy me!) So, imagine my delight when I realized that they come from this essay by George Orwell. Of course, it all makes sense.

I’ll end with the rules:

One can often be in doubt about the effect of a word or a phrase, and one
needs rules that one can rely on when instinct fails. I think the following rules will cover most cases:
1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

In all honesty, I break these rules several times a day – the mere use of in all honesty, that’s trite, isn’t it? But aah … to aspire and to be aware is better than to continue to err unconsciously … and so, I shall continue to aspire.

I don’t actually have my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Gallows yet (my free copy is waiting for me at the Scholastic building, and I’ll be picking it up on Monday), but on Friday night, I did take a trip over to Columbus Circle to attend the “Hallows Ball” at Borders Bookstore.

I had read this article in the Chicago Tribune which promised the arrival of THE BOOK on a horse-drawn carriage at midnight. I asked the Borders employees who were wearing tuxes and ball gowns about this but was met with blank stares, so … oh well, I guess that was a mistake- or, they canceled it because the crowds inside were enough to deal with!

No matter, it was worth the trip anyway to see all the pomp and circumstance surrounding the release of the year’s most-anticipated book. Kids were dressed up like their favorite characters, and were milling about in a pavilion framed with purple curtains, drinking a super sweet Tang (not butter beer), eating blue cotton candy, and wearing wrist bands with their lucky number which determined the order in which they would get to pick up their books.

There was a long and drawn out raffle where the person who would get to be #1 on line to buy the book at 12:01 was chosen.

And at the Borders at Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle, fans who had been given numbered wristbands earlier in the day thronged around the front of the store at midnight. “Are we ready for Harry Potter?” yelled the manager. “Yea!” the crowd screamed back.

Pilyoung Yoo, 41, won a raffle for the first place in line. “It’s so amazing,” she said. After snagging their copy, her son Ted Yoo, 9, opened it to page 705. He wanted to find out how it ends. [full NYT article]

Ms. Yoo was the center of much attention at 12:01. Totally surrounded by the paparazzi, flashing cameras, and her children … and the thrilled Borders management team (of course they would be: The final book about boy wizard Harry Potter broke a single-day record at Borders Group Inc., selling about 1.2 million copies worldwide…

I took a pic with Ms. Yoo as you can see. It was fun to follow and her kids out of Borders and stop her with my request – and partake of their the ecstatic smiles There’s also some fun footage of the vibrant scene for you to watch at youtube (I’m having some technical difficulties here). Enjoy.

So, life goes on … or does it?! You’ll have to read the book to find out.

In the middle of lots of unpacking (from my trip and recent move), I took a break last night to watch the new Harry Potter flick. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix comes out today, and there are already heaps of reviews out there about it, so I’m not going to try to add to them.

Brief: I enjoyed every minute of it, from the action-packed opening to the near-closing shot of the Converse sneakers hanging from the ceiling. And, I was excited about the neat cast of quality “cameo” appearances (if we can really call them that) — Helena Bonham Carter and Emma Thompson!

It is a pretty dark movie, I’ll agree with the Toronto Star – and deliciously so. While we may not get enough time with “Harry’s mates” Ron and Hermione (as this Washington Post review points out), I do agree that the appearance of Evvana Lynch as the pale and weird witch Luna Lovegood — and her quiet yet intense friendship with Harry – makes up for that in some way . This New York Times review rightly points out:

Evanna Lynch, a pale, wide-eyed 15-year-old nonprofessional from Ireland who, having read the book, decided that no one else could play Luna Lovegood, the weirdest witch at Hogwarts. It seems Ms. Lynch was right. She’s spellbinding.

Pretty in pink evolves into pretty scary in pink with Dolores Umbridge (Ms. Staunton), the stickler representative of the Ministry of Magic who takes over Hogwart’s. Her nervous giggle made me physically squirm in my seat.

And, yes, the special effects were fun and in good doses, but the scene that stood out for me were the OWL exams fireworks spectacle/rebellion. (I can never resist the charm of a good old-fashioned boarding school mutiny against illogical authority!)

So, there we have it. I’ll now try to get on with my day.