Jayne ,'Jaynestown'
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Oh, good, I was sitting here thinking, "Oh, dear, there goes my literary sophistication, that's some fairly overwrought stuff."
I'm glad it wasn't just me. I mean, I do like a poetic turn of phrase every now and then, but I don't think I like to be bombarded with it. And it's not really the way I write, I guess. My style seems to be more about sentence structure and the arrangement of words. If I have a style.
But I like Ginger's Dillard quote.
This surprises us not at all.
What are you implying, madame? That I have a steam powered Mark IV Purple Enprosenator running 24-7 in my basement at all times? That I praise linguistic maximalists to the spiraling tops of the clustered cumulus and damn the spindle shanked minimalists to the dreary mini-malls of puttering indifference? Is that what you're saying?
“in her company he wrapped himself in misery like a robe. Between them self-consciousness bulked as a river silts its channel.”
“His hot eyes cooled. Invisible clouds blocked the sky and its atmospheres where noises of people dissolve. The sea beside him, a monster with a lace hem, drained east.”
“Twice a day behind their house the tide boarded the sand. Four times a year the seasons flopped over. Clams live like this, but without so much reading.”
I dunno, David... Seems "block that metaphor"-worthy to me.
I dunno, David... Seems "block that metaphor"-worthy to me.
Well, we don't have the rest of the book to compare it to. Extracting a few lines to highlight her metaphorical bent will necessarily emphasize the juicier examples.
Besides, there's nothing wrong with this line:
“Twice a day behind their house the tide boarded the sand. Four times a year the seasons flopped over. Clams live like this, but without so much reading.”
Since I have been in Dillard's house, I can report that she does indeed live by the words in the Ginger quote (or did, in 1989). Not a cheese ball in sight.
Besides, there's nothing wrong with this line:
I did like the clam line. It was Lorrie Moore-esque.
What are you implying, madame? That I have a steam powered Mark IV Purple Enprosenator running 24-7 in my basement at all times?
(Pssst, everybody! It's actually in his bathroom.)
Besides, there's nothing wrong with this line:
"Twice a day behind their house the tide boarded the sand. Four times a year the seasons flopped over. Clams live like this, but without so much reading."
Man, I really dislike "the seasons flopped over." Flopped?
Yeah, I'm going to have to say I find little purpose in her purple. It feels less stained glass, more Bedazzler.
It feels less stained glass, more Bedazzler.
Heh. Dead on.
Also, that would be an awesome writing workshop: Is There Purpose to Your Purple?