Style
Peck was not an experienced writer, and made no pretensions to literary quality in his work; his book has been criticized for its "inept and pretentious style." He wrote in the manner of popular magazines, travelogues, and advertising copy; Coöperative City is "the most beautiful city in all the world," and its buildings and features are described as "delightful," "elegant," "heavenly," and "magnificent." As Brantford progresses through his tour of the city, his comments are along the lines of "Wonderful, wonderful! and what marvelous changes from my former life!" In describing a private home, Peck writes, "Our readers, no doubt, will feel interested to know something of the character and style of this beautiful home....Here was to be found every convenience and luxury known to those living in the last century."
Beyond the verbal expression, Peck's esthetic is shaped by his professional experience: his future is clean and polished, well-organized and brightly displayed. His world is very much like a department store.
Read more about this topic: The World A Department Store
Famous quotes containing the word style:
“On the first days, like a piece of music that one will later be mad about, but that one does not yet distinguish, that which I was to love so much in [Bergotte’s] style was not yet clear to me. I could not put down the novel that I was reading, but I thought that I was only interested in the subject, as in the first moments of love when one goes every day to see a woman at some gathering, or some pastime, by the amusements to which one believes to be attracted.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)
“All my stories are webs of style and none seems at first blush to contain much kinetic matter.... For me “style” is matter.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“To write well, to have style ... is to paint. The master faculty of style is therefore the visual memory. If a writer does not see what he describes—countrysides and figures, movements and gestures—how could he have a style, that is originality?”
—Rémy De Gourmont (1858–1915)