Week 4: The Johnson Reading

This was a difficult read for me!  It took me several days to get through it all, and I am still not 100% sure that I understand it all.  Johnson seemed to define style as a means by which writers express themselves.  To Johnson, style should never be reduced to rote exercise or mere incantation.  Instead, style is a carefully choreographed work whereby the writer interacts with the reader on a more intimate level.  Johnson seems to view style as an exercise or practice and the reader is carefully guided through the practice.  The end result of good style should be 'magic' for both the writer and the reader.  Style absolutely matters because this is where the connection between writers and readers happens.  Without style, the writing is just lifeless and ineffective.

This article brought me back to my first day of teaching Office Proofreading and Editing.  This was a business writing course, but students did not write much in the course.  Instead, they worked out of a handbook of exercises whereby they would have to insert commas, semicolons, and other forms of punctuation.  I found that while the students could eventually place the commas in the write place, when it came to writing an actual letter, they were still unable to form a complete sentence.  The problem seemed to be that they had not developed their own voice, and as Johnson noted, they did not take the time to think about what they were saying.  As I mature in my teaching, I can definitely see what Johnson means and now understand how my students must be taught to think about what they are saying in their writing.

Overall, there was so much said in this piece.  I cannot wait to hear what others have to say about the reading.