Descriptions I Limit Myself to Describing 27 • Try Not to Tire the Reader 27 • Smell the Bagels 28 • Smell the Summer 28 • The Smell of Hay 29 • Feeling with Your Hands 29 • Descriptions of Nature: Details 30 • Descriptions of Nature: Simplicity 30 • Descriptions of Nature: Less Is More 31 • Descriptions of Emotional States 32 • Details 32 • No Tie and an Unbuttoned Waistcoat 33
Characters Number of Characters 33 • Focus on Two Principals 33 • Superfluous Characters 34 • Living Characters 34 • Figures and Background 35 • Figures and Crowds 36 • Mocking the Characters 36 • Local Officials 37 • Female Characters 37 • Doctors and Patients 38 • Successes and Failures 39 • Drunks 39 • Napoleon 40
Emotions Cry but Without Letting the Reader Know You're Crying 40 • Knowing How to Suffer 41 • Write with Emotional Restraint 42 • Like a Strainer 42 • The Topic Must Be New 42
What to Avoid We Will Not Play the Quack 43 • Don't Preach 43 • Don't Teach 44 • Ignore the Incidental 45 • Ornaments 45 • Jargon 46 • Don't Be Afraid to Write Nonsense 46 • Avoid Exposйs 46
The Company of Writers A Life of Seclusion 47 • Literary Entourage 49 • Academy of Sciences 49 • Intelligentsia 50
Sparrows on a Pile of Manure 51 • Keep Away from Politics 51 • New and Old Talent on the Editorial Board 52
Refuse Censoring 53
PART TWO: DEMONSTRATION Good Shoes and a Notebook - 55 -
3. THE PROJECT
A Change of Air 57 • Pay No Attention to Critics 58 • Talk Things Over with Friends 59 • Challenge Indifference 61 • Read and Summarize 62 • Write Up the Notes 63
THE REPORT
Prerequisites Good Shoes 65 • Notebook 67 • Be Ready to Revise Your Opinions 68
Travel Do Not Get Discouraged 69 • Do Not Make Too Many Plans 71 • Accept Invitations 72 • Take Walks 74 • Keep Your Eyes Open 75 • Go on Excursions 76 • Get Help 79 • Do Practical Things 80 • Join Celebrations 81 • Go to a Wedding 84 • Visit Cemeteries 86 • Keep Moving 88
Observe Make Tours of Inspection 89 • Listen to Rumors 90 • Study the Graffiti 92 • Note the Signs of Social Hierarchy 93 • Pay Attention to Place Names 94 • Note Traces of the Past 95 • Use Your Nose 96 • Listen 97 • Touch 98 • Taste 99
Collect Facts Consult Written Sources 99 • Save Receipts, Schedules, and Fliers 101 • Study the Climate 102 • Take a Census 104 • Frame Questions 105 • Conversation, Not Interrogation 106 • Make Inquiries 109 • Study Children 110 • Quantify 111 • Make Inventories 114
THE ACTUAL WRITING
Overcoming Initial Difficulties Do Not Put Off Writing 115 • Understand Your Reasons for Not Writing 115
Give the Book a Shape The Beginning 116 • Tell the Story of the Journey 116 • Structure the Chapters 118
Being Objective Identify Your Sources 119 • Ascertain Reliability 120 • Make Comparisons 121 • Explain Discrepancies Between Questions and Answers 123 • Cite Documents 125 • Do Not Preach 126 • Voice Your Opinion 128
Being Truthful Portraits 130 • Settings 131
Insert Yourself into the Scene Reflect on What Is Happening 133 • Share Your Emotions 135 • Present Your Survey Findings 140 • Report Stories from Life 141