“It is in this matter that I fall foul of so many American writers on writing; they seem to think that writing is a confidence game by means of which the author cajoles a restless, dull-witted, shallow audience into hearing his point of view. Such an attitude is base, and can only beget base prose.”

— Robertson Davies

Elements of Style (1959).

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "It is in this matter that I fall foul of so many American writers on writing; they seem to think that writing is a conf…" by Robertson Davies?

Robertson Davies 282

Canadian journalist, playwright, professor, critic, and nov… 1913–1995

Related quotes

“We cannot be all the writers all the time. We can only be who we are. Which leads me to my second point: writers do not write what they want, they write what they can.”

Zadie Smith (1975) British writer

“Who is this Pope that I hear so much about? I cannot discover what is his merit. Why will not my subjects write in prose?”

George II of Great Britain (1683–1760) British monarch

As quoted in Sir James Prior's Life of Edmond Malone (1860), p. 369.
Attributed

“I think that living only from writing is a privilege, in economic terms, that only some writers have achieved and to which, probably, all authors aspire: a difficult goal that is not impossible.”

José Baroja (1983) Chilean author and editor

Original: Pienso que vivir solo de la escritura es un privilegio, en términos económicos, que solo algunos escritores y escritoras han conseguido y al que, probablemente, todos los autores aspiramos: una meta difícil que no imposible.
Source: Cazas Fernández, A. (2022). "La escritura le aportó sentido, coherencia e identidad a mi vida". En Correo Gallego. https://www.elcorreogallego.es/el-correo-2/la-escritura-le-aporto-sentido-coherencia-e-identidad-a-mi-vida-AP10794051. Consultado el 16 de junio de 2022.

“I am a novelist, not an activist… But I think that no one who reads what I write or who listens to my lectures can doubt that I am enlisted in the freedom movement. As an individual, I am primarily responsible for the health of American literature and culture. When I write, I am trying to make sense out of chaos. To think that a writer must think about his Negroness is to fall into a trap.”

Ralph Ellison (1914–1994) American novelist, literary critic, scholar and writer

As quoted in "An American Novelist Who Sometimes Teaches" by John Corry http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/06/20/specials/ellison-teaches.html in The New York Times (20 November 1966).