Rest in Peace, Miss Gould

by Liberty and Power

Shortly after writing about words, I learned that the New Yorker's formidable Grammarian, Miss Gould, has passed away. Writing good prose is difficult, surprisingly so. Although a good editor does not write the prose, he improves it. It requires a light hand but firm good sense, intelligence but not overeducation, and a good ear. Like Hume's"true judge" of art, a good judge of writing requires concerted practice, careful comparison, a delicate sensitivity, a lack of prejudice, and good sense. Also like Hume's true judge of art, the true judge of writing is rare.

Miss Gould was one of those rarities. Those who knew and loved her will mourn her loss. Those who, like me, love and strive for good writing will mourn the loss of a member of an endangered species: the"grammarians" who pay attention to good writing, and who, in their own small way, shoulder the burden of civilization.

[Cross-posted at Proportional Belief.]

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Robert Higgs - 12/26/2005

I certainly don't fancy myself to be in the same league with Miss Gould, but I've been editing a quarterly journal for ten years. I fuss over every word published in The Independent Review. After I go over the manuscripts, a professional copy editor goes over them again. I have been fortunate to have had the assistance of several almost shockingly competent copy editors since the journal began. I have learned a lot from them, and I am still learning. I realize just how important this service is, especially now, when I am wading through the copy edited manuscript of a book of my own to be published next spring by Oxford University Press. I am sorry to report that Oxford's copy editor is not in the same league with TIR's, and I am paying the price for the press's hiring mistake as I agonizingly slog through this thing, overturning the copy editor's bad decisions and returning the text to the meaning I intended and to a semblance of its original readability.

The next time you read something in TIR that seems especially well written, realize that this quality does not appear without considerable effort.