Matter and Manner

Matter is what a person says or writes; manner is how he says or writes it

The distinction between matter and manner is somewhat artificial, because what a person says or writes is almost always affected by how he says or writes it. At worst, the manner of a statement can make the matter unintelligible; at best, the manner can complement the matter — and then, according to my friend Theodore J. Mackin, a former professor of religious studies at Santa Clara University, the manner can enable a listener or reader “to disappear into the words.”

For Example . . .

Judgments vary from listener to listener and from reader to reader, and there is probably no speaker or writer whose manner can enable every listener or reader to disappear into every word, but the following passage from The Human Factor, a novel by Graham Greene, is for me a nearly perfect union of manner and matter:

“Castle undressed and put out the light. It was stuffy in the small disordered room. He tried to raise the window, but the sash cord was broken. He stared down into the early morning street. No one went by: not even a policeman. Only a single taxi remained on a rank a little way down Davies Street in the direction of Claridge’s. A burglar alarm sent up a futile ringing from somewhere in the Bond Street area, and a light rain had begun to fall. It gave a black glitter to the pavement like a policeman’s raincoat. He drew the curtain close and got into bed, but he didn’t sleep.”

The Consequences

Because the passage is brief, the effect produced by it is slight — especially when compared with the effect produced by the conclusion of the novel. Nevertheless, when I read that passage, I feel the stuffiness in the room, see the rain fall onto the early morning street, hear the burglar alarm ring “from somewhere in the Bond Street area,” and sense the apprehensiveness of a lonely man who knows that soon something bad will happen. And as I continue to read the novel, I continue to disappear into the words — and finally I become that lonely man.

The Process

Greene allows me to become that lonely man by doing what all speakers and writers can do (that is, by conforming to the conventions of style and usage) and by doing what only the very best can do (that is, by creating a character like Maurice Castle).

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Copyright © 2022 by John Porter. All Rights Reserved.

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