"Finnegans Wake" (has no apostrophe).

Contrary to what Rick Fielding says, I only speak in terms of relative absolutes. I think it is pretty clear what good writing is like when you come across it, but the whole process of writing and reading remains mysterious. For example. I just finished reading Jean Ritchie's Singing Family of the Cumberlands, which is a perfect example of good writing. The writing is often transparent, like a pure stream (the metaphor is unavoidable) -- as a reader one has no idea one is reading words, you just go into the space created by the author -- you are just up in the mountains as a part of her family -- and forget you are reading; and then every once in a while, the author "heightens" the prose, which creates a different space, during which the reader is both carried along by the prose, and also knows that the writing is working on a higher level. This is quite an extraordinary thing, when you think about it. The mind simultaneously enjoys being lost in the writing, but also has a similar enjoyment at the technique of how it is being done. Great music does the same thing, and it is no less strange. It is this simultaneity, when it is carried out well, that makes for good writing. Related to this is the feeling that you can relax in the hands of the author -- you know, like a horse knows a good rider, that you are being manipulated properly, and that the author knows what she is doing.


The difference between a good read and good writing is in this -- a good read (like most competent novels) is something you can get lost in. The writing is designed not to get in the way of your ability to get lost in it -- that is its task. Good writing has that something extra that compels appropriate attention to the writing without being intrusive. It is the mystery of style.

yours, Peter T.