Wilton Barnhardt: Don’t Take That Tone With Me (January 2008)

How often are we tempted to write solemnly about solemn subjects and joyfully about joyful subjects, matching style with content to achieve a so-called appropriate tone?  In this lecture, Wilton Barnhardt reflects on the surprise and rich layers of meaning that can be produced when the writer uses an “anomalous tone,” or a tone that is seemingly at odds with the subject matter; Barnhardt looks at work by John Brehm, James Joyce, Randall Kenan, and Imre Kertesz for examples.