Analyzing Prose (Scribner English Series) [Hardcover]

Richard A. Lanham (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0023675608 | ISBN-13: 978-0023675607 | Publication Date: March 1983 | Edition: First Edition

This second edition of the classic linguistics text provides a basic descriptive terminology for prose style. What is a noun style? A verb style? A hypotactic or a paratactic one? How does the running style differ from the periodic style? What do "high, middle, and low" prose style mean? How might one apply the classical terminology of rhetorical figures to prose analysis? Analyzing Prose supplies detailed, carefully charted answers to these questions in order to teach the student of prose style how and where to begin.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Unlike most how-to books on essay writing, Lanham's leads the reader through an examination of different writers' texts, pinpointing stylistic devices one is not supposed to use if one aspires to effective communication. Recommended."" -Choice Magazine, Febraury 2004" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Richard Lanham is Professor Emeritus of English at UCLA, Los Angeles, USA --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 255 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; First Edition edition (March 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0023675608
• ISBN-13: 978-0023675607
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,475,784 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scribners: reprint this book!, September 7, 2001

By 

Anonymouse (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Analyzing Prose (Scribner English Series) (Hardcover)

I taught college writing classes for 17 years and have been an editor for a computer software company for nine. So far, Lanham's "Analyzing Prose" is the only completely reliable book about writing and language I have come across. It's not an easy book. As Lanham says, "We are simply not trained to look at the words on the page." And to read this book, you have to look at the words on the page. If you're up for the challenge, get this book. It won't be easy to find. It won't be cheap once you've found it. It won't be easy to read once you buy it. But as you realize how rewarding looking at words can be, really looking at them and not just through them, you will thank me over and over again for writing this review. And you will thank Richard Lanham over and over again for writing this splendid book.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Capable but Dry, Rehash of "Revising Prose", January 10, 2007

By 

Andrew Rock (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Analyzing Prose (Paperback)

Unless your are a professional teacher of technical prose analysis, I'd stay clear of this book. I got it because I loved and still use regularly, Revising Prose. I thought rather than get the more recent edition of the Revising Prose, I'd try this more scholarly Analyzing Prose. Half a mistake; I regifted the book to my sister-in-law who works in the profession, for whom this is probably a good book to have around or at least it justifies having it. But for the (even professional) more general writer/editor, stick to Revising Prose.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing primer on style and rhetoric, July 17, 2011

By 

Daniel D Ostlund (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Analyzing Prose (Paperback)

This is a tremendous book that attempts to revive a now lost method for being deliberate about consuming and producing prose.

The couple of two-star reviews are missing the virtues of Analyzing Prose. This is not a rehash of Revising Prose at all. Revising Prose outlines the Paramedic Method, which is really major first aid for bloated dead-fish prose. He calls it the Paramedic Method for a reason.

Analyzing Prose is a practical extension of the arguments that Lanham develops in Style: An Anti-Textbook, which is also an amazing book. Analyzing Prose walks through various ways of classifying prose styles and as a result gives writers something to emulate and practice. Both of these books make the passionate plea to start to take real joy in words and language again, to reject the utilitarian and drab argument that says all prose must be clear, simple, and functional.

If you ever read a line of Shakespeare and marveled at his gorgeous and clever parallel constructions, and inversions; if you love the first few sentences of Lolita; if you noticed Abraham Lincoln's repetition at Gettysburg--"we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow..."--then you will certainly appreciate this book, and appreciate all those others even more.