"The Jane Chord, to which Bill Buckley introduced us years ago, is a concept originally promulgated by Hugh Kenner. The idea is that if you make a two-word sentence out of the first and last words of a book, it will tell you something revealing about the book in question. Or not: the Jane Chord of Pride and Prejudice is It/them. But every once in a while you run across a Jane Chord so resonant that it makes the room shiver--the chord for Death Comes for the Archbishop is One/built--and even when a famous book yields up nonsense, it's still a good game to play"--Terry Teachout.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/sep/28/test-novel-before-you-read?showallcomments=true#comment-7818973
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DaveLull
29 September 2010 2:17PM
"The Jane Chord, to which Bill Buckley introduced us years ago, is a concept originally promulgated by Hugh Kenner. The idea is that if you make a two-word sentence out of the first and last words of a book, it will tell you something revealing about the book in question. Or not: the Jane Chord of Pride and Prejudice is It/them. But every once in a while you run across a Jane Chord so resonant that it makes the room shiver--the chord for Death Comes for the Archbishop is One/built--and even when a famous book yields up nonsense, it's still a good game to play"--Terry Teachout.
http://www.artsjournal.com/aboutlastnight/2008/05/tt_half_a_loaf.html
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goldgathers
30 September 2010 8:59AM
Jane Chord for the best novel of the lot:
Stately? Yes.
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