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Practice your writing by typing out classic literature. This method not only enhances your understanding of rhythm, structure, and nuances but also connects you deeply with the timeless flow of literary history.This is a BETA version.
Cranford
by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
Cranford is a novel by Elizabeth Gaskell, first published in 1851. It is a humorous and poignant portrayal of the lives of the residents of the small town of Cranford, focusing on the experiences of the town, particularly the lives of the town's older residents. The novel is a social satire that explores themes of society, social dynamics, and the human condition.
hobby is immediately a butt, but a man who is not obliged to be right in order to guard his vanity, has but to describe in a few simple and true sentences some fact, some moral wrong which needs redressing, and see the effect, and the silent help which immediately follows, and for this reason it is that in literature we have seen of late the almost exclusive reign of fiction.’... It is this quality of statement which we find in Mrs. Gaskell’s books which distinguishes them from so many which preceded them, and which gives them their influence. It was because she had written Mary Barton that some deeper echoes reach us in Cranford than are to be found in any of Jane Austen’s books, delightful as they are. Young people read books to learn about their lives which are to come, old people read them to forget the present; there is yet another class of readers, old and young, who read to find expression to the indefinite unshaped feelings by which they are haunted,—of all these will not each find response in the books of Elizabeth Gaskell, in Ruth, in Cousin Phyllis, in Sylvia’s Lovers, in that last fine work which she never finished?
Other classics
Mary Shelley
Frankenstein
Virginia Woolf
Mrs. Dalloway
William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet
Lewis Carroll
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Ernest Hemingway
In Our Time
Franz Kafka
The Metamorphosis
Emily Brontë
Wuthering Heights
F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby
August Strindberg
Röda Rummet
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Crime and Punishment
Jane Austen
Emma
Marcel Proust
Within a Budding Grove
Herman Melville
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
Louisa May Alcott
Aunt Jo’s Scrap-Bag Vol. 1
Victoria Benedictsson
Modern
Henry David Thoreau
Walden
August Strindberg
Inferno
Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Hjalmar Söderberg
Förvillelser
Marcel Proust
Swann's WayWhy Type a Masterpiece?
Typing out classical literature is not just an exercise in patience; it's a deeply immersive way to understand the rhythm, structure, and nuances of great writing. By manually reproducing the works of renowned authors, you engage with the text on a level that reading alone cannot offer. This method allows you to feel the flow of sentences, the choice of words, and the intricate construction of paragraphs that make these works timeless.
Style is a very simple matter; it is all rhythm. Once you get that, you can't use the wrong words.
– Virginia Woolf
literati is a unique platform where writers can select from a vast collection of public domain classics to type out. This practice is akin to a musician playing pieces by the masters to internalize the elements of composition and performance. Just as the musician learns the subtleties of each note and chord, the writer learns the power of each word and sentence.
Prose is like hair; it shines with combing.
– Gustave Flaubert
Engaging directly with masterpieces allows writers to absorb the rhythm of the text, the ebb and flow of its pacing, and the beauty of its imagery. It cultivates an appreciation for the craft of writing and provides invaluable lessons in how to construct compelling narratives, develop characters, and evoke emotions in readers. Happy typing!
The only truth is music.
– Jack Kerouac