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The Path to Rome · Theme
The Art of Writing and Style
How The Path to Rome develops The Art of Writing and Style.
The book contains extensive meta-commentary on writing, including a playful 'Praise of This Book,' a mock-heroic marshaling of literary devices (neologisms, anachronisms, egotisms), and discussions on the difficulties of beginning, climaxing, and ending a book.
Where it surfaces
- Praise of This Book
The narrator discusses prefaces, style, and launches a Rabelaisian call to arms for his words, celebrating rhetorical freedom.
- The Path to Rome
The narrator reflects on the quality of books as a refuge from living, and the ability of writing to fix elusive hours and make them timeless.
- Endnotes
The narrator explicitly addresses the craft of writing, deciding to use stories or songs to handle uneventful road segments.