Monday, June 13, 2011

Effective use ...

... Heavy sentences by Joseph Epstein - The New Criterion. (Hat tip, Lee Lowe.)

4 comments:

  1. Epstein criticises Fish's propensity to cliché, which is accurate enough, but doesn't hesitate to stray into 'cliché country' himself: the sound of one hand clapping, for example.

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  2. "Pause a moment to consider the wide reading required to have written that last sentence."

    The wide reading is clear; the brass is breathtaking.

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  3. I'm not sure, Lee, if the Zen reference is a cliche in this case. It struck me as just a point of reference, Epstein designating (as he later explicitly says)his proposition as koan-like, with all that that implies. Though I agree it is risky to use it these days ... unless you're talking Zen.
    And yes, George, you are tight about the brass

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  4. "The Best Book On The Art Of Writing":

    ". . . Harriman House printed another run."

    http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2012/07/the-best-book-on-the-art-of-writing/

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