The Imaginative Argument – A Practical Manifesto for Writers - Softcover

Cioffi, Frank L

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0691122903 ISBN 13: 9780691122908

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2005

Synopsis

More than merely a writing text, The Imaginative Argument offers writers instruction on how to use their imaginations to improve their prose. Cioffi shows writers how they can enliven argument--the organizing rubric of all persuasive writing--by drawing on emotion, soul, and creativity, the wellsprings of imagination. While Cioffi suggests that argument should become a natural habit of mind for writers, he goes still further, inspiring writers to adopt as their gold standard the imaginative argument: the surprising yet strikingly apt insight that organizes disparate noises into music, that makes out of chaos, chaos theory.

Rather than offering a model of writing based on established formulas or templates, Cioffi urges writers to envision argument as an active parsing of experience that imaginatively reinvents the world. Cioffi's manifesto asserts that successful argument also requires writers to explore their own deep-seated feelings, to exploit the fuzzy but often profoundly insightful logic of the imagination.

But expression is not all that matters: Cioffi's work anchors itself in the actual. Drawing on Louis Kahn's notion that a good architect never has all the answers to a building's problems before its physical construction, Cioffi maintains that in argument, too, answers must be forged along the way, as the writer inventively deals with emergent problems and unforeseen complexities. Indeed, discovery, imagination, and invention suffuse all stages of the process.

The Imaginative Argument offers all the intellectual kindling that writers need to ignite this creativity, from insights on developing ideas to avoiding bland assertions or logical leaps. It cites exemplary nonfiction prose stylists, including William James, Ruth Benedict, and Erving Goffman, as well as literary sources to demonstrate the dynamic of persuasive writing. Provocative and lively, it will prove not only essential reading but also inspiration for all those interested in arguing more imaginatively more successfully.

About this title

About the Author

Frank L. Cioffi has taught writing at Gdansk University, Princeton University, Bard College, and Scripps College. He is the author of "Formula Fiction? An Anatomy of American Science Fiction, 1930-40".

From the Back Cover

"The Imaginative Argument is the culmination of many years of thought and practice, the summing up of a lifetime dedicated to reading, writing, teaching composition, and, above all, thinking about writing and its connection to the imagination. Anyone interested in the process of writing will learn a great deal from this book. Anyone who teaches writing will learn even more--new and useful techniques for their classroom. And, most important of all, students will learn bold and efficient ways to master college writing."--Murray Sperber, Professor Emeritus of English, Indiana University, Bloomington

"Frank Cioffi's manifesto is intellectually rigorous, but it is also passionate, stylish, meticulous, idiosyncratic, and unique among college writing texts. Its insistence on wholly original writing--hence, wholly original thinking--is heartening. Indeed, The Imaginative Argument is a model of the kind of writing college students should be producing."--Valerie Sayers, author of Due East and Brain Fever, and Professor of Creative Writing, University of Notre Dame

"Would that I had read this book or taken Frank Cioffi's class fifty years ago. Better yet, I wish the contents of this book resided in the minds of all of us who produce soporific sentences in the name of 'technical' or 'professional' writing. If it did, we would all benefit. God knows I would read more technical papers. And kudos to the author for nicely making the point that creative writing is not solely the property of those who write fiction."--James L. Adams, Stanford University, author of Conceptual Blockbusting

"It's not enough to have an opinion or an idea. Writing well means making your reader follow, understand, agree or disagree, care. To do that you'll need the 'imaginative argument' Frank Cioffi explores here. With its sympathetic diagnoses of writing goals and writing problems, this useful book celebrates the kind of writing that actually gets work done."--William Germano, author of From Dissertation to Book

"The Imaginative Argument is an extremely useful writing guide. Cioffi makes a good case for the importance of writing in our day-to-day lives-as a tool for clarifying our thoughts, persuading others, and enhancing our lives. Writing teachers as well as students will find it interesting and accessible."--Kathryn Watterson, University of Pennsylvania

"This book is a significant contribution to the expository writing field. Cioffi's ideas about imagination and his suggestions for teaching it are brilliant and provocative. His own writing is consistently sparkling, frequently witty, and serves as a model for students."--Alfred E. Guy, Jr., Yale University

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691122903
• ISBN 13: 9780691122908
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256