Lewis Carroll on Writing Letters

Someone responding to Jim's post below mentioned Lewis Carroll's Eight or Nine Wise Words About Letter Writing, an essay I'd never heard of, though I've read a lot of Carroll's writing. (He was a fascinating writer and character, even outside the famous works.) So I tracked down a link and here pass it on.

While I'm at it, I'd be grateful if readers would pass on similar articles on writing they'd recommend, with links if you can find them. Here, for a start, is George Orwell's famous essay Politics and the English Language, which I always assign to my writing students in the first week's reading.

Comments

[Steve Nicoloso]

The entire 15 volumes of the Richard Mitchell's Underground Grammarian can be found here. Mitchell also authored several books on the subject of the art of writing without saying anything, or alternately stating only the obvious, yet clothed in vapid jargon or without any conjugation of the English verb "to be", i.e., writing poorly, or as he often puts it like a Professional of Education. He was a reactionary contrarian before reactionary contrarian was cool, and also before the rest of us knew he was right. It's always a funny, fascinating read.

[Joe Long]

What a tremendous little essay. And having puzzled my way through too many cross-hatched 19th century letter, I especially appreciated his advice:

"My ninth Rule. When you get to the end of a notesheet, and find you have more to say, take another piece of paper--a whole sheet, or a scrap, as the case may demand: but whatever you do, don’t cross! Remember the old proverb 'Cross-writing makes cross reading'. 'The old proverb?' you say, inquiringly. 'How old?' Well, not so very ancient, I must confess. In fact, I’m afraid I invented it while writing this paragraph!"

Well, it was a good invention. ("Cross-hatching" or "cross-writing" saved paper by turning the page ninety degrees, and adding your additional content right on top of, and at right angles to, the rest. You could get four pages on sheet of paper if you were determined too, and callous about the recipient's eyesight and sanity.)

[Mairnéalach]

Whew-- I'd never heard of cross-writing before. Thank God for the demise of that particular "thrift".