Adios, Strunk and White

by Gary Hoffman

ADIOS, STRUNK AND WHITE is subtitled "A Handbook for the New Academic Essay," but the ideas for creating original writing, style and alternative organizational forms apply to all writing tasks: scientific and creative non-fiction; business and personal.

The STYLE section offers a veritable linguistic palette for shaping and modulating written tone, underscoring content with "Flow" (ways for fearlessly generating long, grammatical sentences which capture complex realities), "Pause" (ways for dramatically creating emphasis and punch), "Fusion" (ways for crafting non-flowery, economical metaphors to compress and edit), and "Opt" (ways for altering perception by using first, second, and third person point of view).

The strategies in the FORM section are presented by problem-solution arrangement, the Hoffmans first identifying typical hurdles writers face when narrating, defining, arguing and intensifying: the difficulty of capturing a fleeting reality, the challenge of breaking through a reader's cliché ideas, the need to deconstruct a self righteous position. Once the problem is explicated, the authors offer practical, original solutions: how to suspend time, how to bust clichés, how to mock, and finally how to "punch up" any piece of writing, with "Nettings," "Echoings," and "Masqueradings." At the end of the Form section, the Hoffmans offer four suggestions for transitioning between disparate strategies. The last section, aptly titled HEADWORK, offers a streamlined approach to critical thinking which includes a chapter on distinguishing between deductive and inductive reasoning, another chapter covering the pitfalls of critical analysis (i.e. logical fallacies and euphemism), the third section finally ending with swift counsel about conducting pertinent research—sound advice for graduate students, historians, and scientists.

All sections cull from such diverse sources as THE NEW YORKER, KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL, bird handbooks, and satiric posters, and include writers as varied as Aristotle and David Foster Wallace—the breadth of examples engaging both the rogue student and serious scholar. Writing concepts are presented in a conversational tone with helpful terminology that makes the most complicated principles of writing accessible. The book is full of startling, yet practical advice.

Genres: Writing, Reference, Nonfiction

254 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

After a year in architecture at UC Berkeley, Gary Hoffman studied writing and literature at UCLA where he received his BA and MA. After finishing PhD course work at USC, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary studies, he started a long career as a member of the Orange Coast College English department. His study of the Bauhaus approach to design at UC Berkeley influenced his methods for teaching writing; in 1984 he wrote WRITEFUL, a new approach to writing creative non-fiction. His wife Glynis helped to develop these ideas further and in 1997 Gary and Glynis coauthored, ADIOS, STRUNK & WHITE: A HANDBOOK FOR THE NEW ACADEMIC ESSAY. ADIOS is a resource book for teachers and writers that has also been used as a textbook at major colleges and universities.
Now, with over forty years teaching literature, art criticism and some studio art, Hoffman is well positioned to unravel the literary treasures of the Bible in his book POMEGRANATE GOSPEL: BIBLE REVIVALS FOR SECULAR TASTES. By offering both humorous and personal commentary through a variety of styles and forms—memoirs, literary analysis, epistles, Q&As, narratives, engagements with the visual arts—this book uses many of the approaches explained in ADIOS, STRUNK & WHITE to keep the reader a little off-balance, to open up a new awareness of the Bible’s secular richness.

Reviews

[Bryan Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Innovative and catchy new ways to come at writing. Any writer would find the advice and activities offered here helpful, but as a Language Arts teacher, I am excited to pursue the exercises herein as a way to do more passage modeling with my students. There's an accompanying workbook to this text that is also worth seeking out.

[Darren Girard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this for a writing class but I now use it as my go-to resource guide on writing style/techniques. "Adios..." breaks all the traditional rules to push writers into producing fresh, intriguing material. Not your run of the mill style guide or English textbook. If you're a writer you'll love this book.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book offers some thoughtful responses to the Cult of Strunk and White. It's interesting; it just didn't thrill me.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Books like this make me want to go and get my PhD in Rhet & Comp.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

An OK writing book, but don't dump your Strunk and White.

[Lahni Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know, I liked this book! It was from English 101 in the early days of college but the writing tips stuck with me. Now, when I edit papers for others, I point out new ways to write things and make suggestions based on the book. And I have an autographed copy because the authors taught at my school. :)

[Steven Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

How many editions will this classic go through? One might make a fair amount of money betting on its continuing publication! William Strunk himself was born in 1869 and died in 1946. This is one of the Bibles of writing and goes on and on, year after year. It is still routinely assigned at my academic institution in 2011.

[Liston Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book taught me more about how to make my writing interesting than any other. If only I took more time to practice it's principals.

[Robert Hultman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great tool for writers and writing teachers. A fresh approach to utilizing language that is opposite the high and mighty Do Not Do That of William Strunk Jr.

[Chang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adding -ing phrases to the main sentence.