J.K. Galbraith on Writing: Who Said It Was Easy?
Recipient of the World War II Medal of Freedom. Recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Harvard Professor of Economics. Adviser to President Kennedy. US Ambassador to India.
JK Galbraith’s CV was as impressive as they get. However, our focus today will be on his writing. Galbraith was a prolific writer, publishing almost 50 books and more than a thousand (!) articles in his lifetime.
Like all good writers, he had his own philosophy on writing, a philosophy that might resonate with many of this blog’s readers. In my view, his observations are spot on.
His best piece was “Writing, Typing, and Economics'“ an essay which appeared in the March 1978 issue of The Atlantic. The following excerpts are worth our attention:
‘[I]n the social sciences, much unclear writing is based on unclear or incomplete thought. It is possible with safety to be technically obscure about something you haven’t thought out. It is impossible to be wholly clear on something you do not understand.’
“All writers know that on some golden mornings they are touched by the wand — are on intimate terms with poetry and cosmic truth. I have experienced those moments myself. Their lesson is simple: It’s a total illusion. And the danger in the illusion is that you will wait for those moments. Such is the horror of having to face the typewriter that you will spend all your time waiting. I am persuaded that most writers, like most shoemakers, are about as good one day as the next (a point which Trollope made), hangovers apart. The difference is the result of euphoria, alcohol, or imagination. The meaning is that one had better go to his or her typewriter every morning and stay there regardless of the seeming result. It will be much the same...”
“There may be inspired writers for whom the first draft is just right. But anyone who is not certifiably a Milton had better assume that the first draft is a very primitive thing. The reason is simple: Writing is difficult work. Ralph Paine, who managed Fortune in my time, used to say that anyone who said writing was easy was either a bad writer or an unregenerate liar. Thinking, as Voltaire avowed, is also a very tedious thing which men—or women—will do anything to avoid. So all first drafts are deeply flawed by the need to combine composition with thought. Each later draft is less demanding in this regard. Hence the writing can be better...”
Apart from being a brilliant academic with a stellar CV, it is obvious that Galbraith had many wise words to share on the process of writing itself. Reading old gems such as his advice above can certainly help our writing improve, but also encourage us to keep moving forward.
Let me close with one of my favourite quotes on writing, this time by Winston Churchill: “If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit again. Then hit a third time – a tremendous whack.”
