Some Really Good Writing

      I read two pieces this week in the Wall Street Journal in which the writing really impressed me.  One was in the Saturday, June 17 paper, by Dan Neil the automotive critic in a weekly column called the Rumble Seat.  His article, Maserati Mounts a Comeback, Modestly.  The second article, Trump’s Indictment May Pull Us Back From the Brink, June 13^th was a June 13^th Op-Ed piece in a column titled Free Expression by Gerard Baker. 

At times, I get to think that I am a pretty good writer.  When I get too full of myself, the universe has ways of tempering the ego swell.  One certain way is to have a phone call with Ara.  He has a masterful, yet caring, way of bringing me down to earth or even lower.  Another sure fire way to deflate the ego balloon is to read masterful writers.

One that I read often is Dan Neil.  I try to read every one of his columns.  I find his reviews very entertaining.  His use of language is sophisticated and most impressive.  Here is an example from the review of the Maserati Grecale Modena.  In the paragraph before this one, he noted that the Grecale, a compact crossover, is the priciest in its class that includes “the Porsche Macan, Mercedes-Benz GLC and BMW X3, among others.”

Why, you may wonder? Call it the vowel tax. Just about everybody who comes this way has marveled at the weird stickiness of Maserati—a one-word tone poem, energized by those sizzling consonants. This phonetic pixie dust still casts a spell, despite decades of failed commerce. All most people know is that it sounds expensive. Maserati charges accordingly. 

 Neil deftly filets Maserati without any gore or blood.  The reason I am a devoted reader of his is because of gems like this.  I often read passages of his over a few times because they are so cleverly delicious or because it takes a few readings for me to fully process the subtle richness of his jabs or praise.  I tend to like the jabs more.

Neil has been an auto columnist since 1991.  He has been an auto critic for The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina, the Los Angeles Times, and now the Wall Street Journal.  He is the only auto columnist to win the Pulitzer Prize for criticism.  The Pulitzer folks made note of his “one-of-a-kind reviews of automobiles, blending technical expertise with offbeat humor and astute cultural criticism.”

I am not nearly as devoted to Gerard Baker as I am to Neil.  He has been in the editorial ranks of the Wall Street Journal since 2009.  He was Editor in Chief from 2013-2018.  Since then, he has been an Editor at Large.  He is educated at Corpus Christi College of Oxford University.  Here is the paragraph that most impressed me from his column on Trump’s Indictment

If you perused Twitter, sampled a cross-section of our leading newspapers, or dipped randomly in and out of the ever-rising tower of Babel on cable, talk radio and podcasts in the past few days, you were given a vivid demonstration of the binary principle on which our political discourse now operates. You have the impression that approximately half the people of this country regard the federal indictment of Donald Trump as the greatest affirmation of republican democracy since the surrender at Appomattox, while the other half view it as the greatest abuse of power since George III tried to levy a stamp tax on his colonial subjects.

In my view, Baker brilliantly sums up, in one sentence, the polarization in our politics. 

Both these examples come from a daily, albeit international, newspaper.   I admire Journal’s coverage of the world of commerce.  As for the Op Eds, whether I agree or disagree with the views of the paper, it is always well written and thought provoking.