The Bad Writing Contest

Denis Dutton (FINA012@CSC.CANTERBURY.AC.NZ)
Fri, 11 Oct 1996 14:31:16 +1300

CALL FOR ENTRIES. Philosophy and Literature announces the third
Bad Writing Contest. Please cross-post the following announcement
on related lists for humanities, culture theory, philosophy, social
sciences, criticism, editing, etc.

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The Philosophy and Literature Bad Writing Contest

The challenge of the Bad Writing Contest is to come up with the
ugliest, most stylistically awful single sentence from a published
scholarly book or article. Ordinary journalism, fiction, etc. not
allowed, nor is translation from other languages into English.
Entries must be non-ironic, from actual serious academic journals or
books--parodies cannot be admitted in a field where unintentional
self-parody is so rampant. Winning entries will be checked by our
researchers before prizes are awarded.

Judging will be by editorial staff of Philosophy and Literature. Finder
of the winning sentence will have first choice from among the
following titles, second prize will be a choice of the remaining books,
and so on. The seven prize books are: Rewriting the Soul, by Ian
Hacking (Princeton), The Magician's Doubts: Nabokov and the Risks
of Fiction, by Michael Wood (Princeton), Dilemmas of Enlightenment,
by Oscar Kenshur (California); Killing Time, by Paul Feyerabend
(Chicago); Anti-Mimesis from Plato to Hitchcock, by Tom Cohen
(Cambridge); Compulsive Beauty, by Hal Foster (MIT); Georges
Bataille, by Michael Richardson (Routledge). If necessary, there will
be a eight prize (a copy of the journal Social Text) and ninth prize
(two copies of Social Text).

We've fine prizes for this third contest, so join the fun! Please use the
subject heading "Bad writing entry" and copy the posting directly to
Denis Dutton, editor of Philosophy and Literature, so we can keep
track of the entries:

d.dutton@fina.canterbury.ac.nz.

The contest deadline: 31 December 1996.

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