Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process Contributor(s): McPhee, John (Author) |
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ISBN: 0374142742 ISBN-13: 9780374142742 Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
WE WILL NOT BE UNDERSOLD! Click here for our low price guarantee Binding Type: Hardcover - See All Available Formats & Editions Published: September 2017 * Out of Print * |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Language Arts & Disciplines | Writing - General - Biography & Autobiography | Literary Figures - Language Arts & Disciplines | Writing - Authorship |
Dewey: 808.02 |
LCCN: 2016059416 |
Physical Information: 0.8" H x 5.8" W x 8.5" L (0.70 lbs) 208 pages |
Features: Dust Cover, Illustrated, Maps, Price on Product |
Review Citations: Library Journal Prepub Alert 04/15/2017 pg. 61 Publishers Weekly 05/15/2017 Kirkus Reviews 06/01/2017 pg. 60 Library Journal 06/15/2017 Kirkus Reviews Fall Preview 08/15/2017 pg. 30 Booklist 09/01/2017 pg. 29 |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: The long-awaited guide to writing long-form nonfiction by the legendary author and teacher Draft No. 4 is a master class on the writer's craft. In a series of playful, expertly wrought essays, John McPhee shares insights he has gathered over his career and has refined while teaching at Princeton University, where he has nurtured some of the most esteemed writers of recent decades. McPhee offers definitive guidance in the decisions regarding arrangement, diction, and tone that shape nonfiction pieces, and he presents extracts from his work, subjecting them to wry scrutiny. In one essay, he considers the delicate art of getting sources to tell you what they might not otherwise reveal. In another, he discusses how to use flashback to place a bear encounter in a travel narrative while observing that "readers are not supposed to notice the structure. It is meant to be about as visible as someone's bones." The result is a vivid depiction of the writing process, from reporting to drafting to revising--and revising, and revising. Draft No. 4 is enriched by multiple diagrams and by personal anecdotes and charming reflections on the life of a writer. McPhee describes his enduring relationships with The New Yorker and Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and recalls his early years at Time magazine. Throughout, Draft No. 4 is enlivened by his keen sense of writing as a way of being in the world. |
Contributor Bio(s): McPhee, John: - John McPhee was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and was educated at Princeton University and Cambridge University. His writing career began at Time magazine and led to his long association with The New Yorker, where he has been a staff writer since 1965. Also in 1965, he published his first book, A Sense of Where You Are, with Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and in the years since, he has written over 30 books, including Oranges (1967), Coming into the Country (1977), The Control of Nature (1989), The Founding Fish (2002), Uncommon Carriers (2007), and Silk Parachute (2011). Encounters with the Archdruid (1972) and The Curve of Binding Energy (1974) were nominated for National Book Awards in the category of science. McPhee received the Award in Literature from the Academy of Arts and Letters in 1977. In 1999, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Annals of the Former World. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey. |
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