The Imaginative Argument: A Practical Manifesto for Writers

248 Pages·2005·0.67 MB·English

by  Frank L. Cioffi

T H E I M A G I N A T I V E A R G U M E N T
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The
Imaginative
Argument
A PRACTICAL MANIFESTO FOR WRITERS
Frank L. Cioffi
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
Princeton and Oxford
Copyright © 2005 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Market Place,
Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1SY
Interior artwork adapted from the cover artwork of the
paperback edition, © 2005 William Biderbost.
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cioffi, Frank L., 1951–
The imaginative argument : a practical manifesto for writers / Frank L. Cioffi.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-691-12289-X (acid-free paper) — ISBN 0-691-12290-3 (pbk.)
1. Persuasion (Rhetoric)—Problems, exercises, etc. 2. English
language—Rhetoric—Problems, exercises, etc. 3. Report writing—Problems,
exercises, etc. I. Title.
PE1433.C56 2005
808(cid:1).042—dc22 2004057500
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Adobe Garamond, Bluejack, and Raphael
Printed on acid-free paper. ∞
pup.princeton. edu
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
FOR KATHLEEN CIOFFI
whose love exceeds imagination, and whose courage
and insight brook no argument
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Writing isn’t about talent. It’s about devotion,
it’s about practice.
—NAOMI SHIHAB NYE
Not he is great who can alter matter, but he
who can alter my state of mind.
—RALPH WALDO EMERSON,
“The American Scholar’’
By imagination the architect sees the unity of a building
not yet begun, and the inventor sees the unity and
varied interactions of a machine never yet constructed, even a
unity that no human eye can ever see, since when the
machine is in actual motion, one part may hide the
connecting parts, and yet all keep the unity of the
inventor’s thought. By imagination a Newton sweeps
sun, planets, and stars into unity with the earth and the
apple that is drawn irresistibly to its surface, and
sees them all within the circle of one grand law.
Science, philosophy, and mechanical invention have little
use for fancy, but the creative, penetrative power of
imagination is to them the breath of life, and the
condition of all advance and success.
—Funk and Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary
of the English Language
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C O N T E N T S
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xxi
1. An Introduction to the Writing of Essays 1
2. Audience, or For Whom Are You Writing? 12
3. Prewriting and the Writing Process 31
4. The Thesis 43
5. Saying Something New: Ways toward Creativity 61
6. Paragraph Design 72
7. Developing an Argument 85
8. Different Structures, Novel Organizational Principles 104
9. The Imaginative Research Paper 116
10. Figures and Fallacies, or Being Forceful but Not
Cheating at Argument 135
11. The Argument of Style 149
12. Concluding a Manifesto: The Future of Writing 172
Appendix I. Sample Essays 183
Appendix II. Writing Prompts 202
Works Cited 209
Index 215