What do you do for young writers? Give them a copy of The Elements of Style by Strunk and White, of course! This quote, one of my favorites from Dorothy Parker, gives a little more advice…
“If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.”
-Dorothy Parker
The Cover of Esquire, Nov. 1959
Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) was a writer, poet, and wit. She was a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table, a loose group of writers, critics and actors who met for lunch at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919-1926. Parker authored several volumes of poetry, many of the poems short, dark, or examining the advantages of suicide.
From 1957-1962 Dorothy Parker wrote a book review column for for the magazine Esquire. Today’s quote came from the November, 1959 issue where she was reviewing a revised edition of The Elements of Style (1). The applicable section of the review is reproduced below.
“And now there come along, without any frills and flourishes, two books to list under the head of “Forevers.” One is The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr., with “Revisions, an Introduction, and a New Chapter on Writing” by E. B. White. William Strunk taught Mr. White English at Cornell, certainly he had no more gifted and proficient a pupil. It is a book to put alongside Fowler’s works and I can think of no higher praise; I greatly doubt if there is any. If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.”
1. Dorothy Parker (1959) Esquire, Vol. LII, No. 5, pp. 26-28. Article downloaded from classic.esquire.com on 7/28/2016.
Photos: The picture of the young Dorothy Parker is from wikimedia. The cover image for the November, 1959 issue of Esquire was downloaded from classic.esquire.com.
