A paean to English

American life had changed him. Now he loved hand tools–oh, the infinite varieties of American tools, each designed for one purpose, just like the vast English vocabulary, each word denoting precisely one thing or one idea.
-Ha Jin,* A Free Life

I’ve started writing in English about ten years ago, when I found that English was the […]

The Literary Provenance of Blogs and Other Lessons from Capote

The view of blogs as anthologies of obscure facts masquerading as personal journals seems spot on to me. But so much of Capote’s writing is similarly revealing in this quiet, unassuming way. His choices have nothing exhibitionist about them. The words, when unusual, are simply right: Perry’s, the murderer’s, pastiche of scribblings is an anthology. In another passage, Capote describes the winter winds on the Kansas prairie as “razory.” The measure of how perfect his words are is that they seemed to have always existed. Here they are, the newly-minted clichés of our future. They immediately supersede all alternatives. What else can cold February winds be other than “razory”?

System D

J has his own System D for going to sleep. He reads my Joyce and my Borges and conks right out. I don’t think he means as a criticism. Wilfrid Sheed doesn’t seem to think anyone has to:

“Toil, envy, want, the patron and the jail,” is how Sam Johnson, blues singer, described the writer’s life. Then there was Joseph Conrad, comparing writing to carrying heavy bales under a low rope on a hot day. (I’ll admit reading Conrad can be like that, for all that it’s worth it. If “easy writing makes damn hard reading,” your hard writing can be a real mother.) [From “The Company of writers,” The Good Word & Other Words]

A Writer’s Valentine

From Inkygirl, a hilarious Valentine (comic) for writers. I might pass this around to my novella classmates. Or better yet, my intro class students tomorrow.

Syriana

Syriana screenplay is now available on-line from Warner Brothers for your leisure reading pleasure (via boing boing)