Here’s a great passage about how Mermin and a coauthor produced a coherent voice that was neither of theirs: A special problem for the writing of physics is created by the predominance of multi-author papers… It is hard to discern an authorial voice in such papers. It is now almost impossible to acquire a sense …

I’ve already made the fairly traditional claim that it’s useful to try to read character or personality in a textual voice–as long as we call it implied author, or ethos, or persona. But should we look to the language of a text for a picture of the character of the actual historical writer? My answer …

A fruitful way to talk about voice in writing is to heighten the magical dimension. That is, even though we know magic isn’t real, poetry itself is magical language. It is trying consciously to get sound and rhythm in–something other than mere semiosis or meaning. Someone said that prose is for communication, poetry for communion. …

Medieval music was just the notes, leaving all expression to the director and performers, but over the centuries, writer and musicians specified voice on the page more. Musicians leave more markings, as do playwrights. Edward Albee was compulsive about how folks were to say lines, so his stage directions are a catalogue of subtly different …

Murray implies voice as most important for good writing: “Voice allows the reader to hear an individual human being speak from the page. Good writing always has a strong and appropriate voice. Voice is the quality, more than any other, that allows us to recognize exceptional potential in a beginning writer; Voice is the quality, …

Sommers criticized earlier essays of hers for having a wimpy voice, and states “I must bring a voice of my own. I must enter the dialogue on my own authority, knowing that other voices have enabled mine, but no longer can I subordinate mine to theirs” (284) She observes the presence of “an inherited academic …

“A longtime critic of voice, I rail against its use in my courses. Despite this, the term invariably emerges, often sheepishly from one of my students and, more frequently than I’d like to admit, from me as I stumble over my own inability to describe what I mean” (286). She argues there too for “network” …

“What if we separated the idea of “voice” from audiology? What if we understood the metaphor of “voice” to refer not merely to the mouth, lungs and throat, but to a variety of bodily sites? Users of ASL could, after all, be said to speak with their hands. What if we separated “voice” from verbality, …

An Authentic voice: “It is strange how out of out of all this mostly inchoate and random writing, a sense of a personal vision emerges that would make its way into the very core of Williams’s main character and scenes. These entries capture an authentic voice, an artist alone and deeply fearful and unusually selfish. …

“A new guitar is like a novice choir: a gathering of disparate parts, held together under pressure, straining to carry the same tune. The more it’s played, the more it settles into its true voice. The neck and body, joins and braces, bridge and fingerboard stop fighting one another and start to sing in unison …