The Art of X-Ray Reading: How the Secrets of 25 Great Works of Literature Will Improve Your Writing

“Any honest writer will tell you this: It’s not tricks that make you better at crafting prose. It’s reading. Lots of reading. Close reading. X-ray reading. Roy Peter Clark decodes brilliant passages so that we can not so much emulate them, but make our own magic.”—Constance Hale, author of Sin and Syntax and Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch “This book sits on the (well-oiled) hinge between close reading and manual. Roy Peter Clark, who knows a thing or two about the writer’s trade, digs into passages of successful writing from King Lear to the Goon Squad in order to unearth such writerly tools as foreshadowing, wordplay, shock value, repetition, rhetorical tropes, soliloquy and many more. It’s a delightful read and an illuminating method for beginner or pro.”–Janet Burroway, author of Writing Fiction and Losing Tim “Roy Peter Clark is a national treasure that needs to be mined aggressively”–DeWayne Wickham, dean of Morgan State University’s School of Global Journalism and Communication, USA Today “This is an infectiously enthusiastic guide to becoming an active reader, an homage to the wealth of meaning in great literature, and a striking demonstration of how that meaning can be transmitted from author to reader across centuries and oceans.”–Publishers Weekly “This enjoyable book is perfect for students, writers, and anyone who wants to learn more about great literature.”–Library Journal (Starred Review) “Just when you think Clark, who has written some of the best books on the writer’s craft, has covered everything related to the subject, he digs deep into literature and excavates a gold mine of artistic strategies for great writing….With lively, colorful writing and inspired practical advice, this guide earns a spot along with Clark’s Writing Tools as essential reading for writers. Recommended for book lovers as well.”–Kirkus (Starred Review)

Roy Peter Clark teaches writing to professional journalists, to teachers, and to students of all ages at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Florida. He has been an English Professor at Auburn University, a writing coach for the St. Petersburg Times, a reporter, feature writer, and critic. He has been involved since 1980 in Writers’ Camp in Florida, a workshop for young writers and their teachers.

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