Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Reading

While editing some short stories my mind triggered back to the longer sentences prevalent in 19th century literature. Some of those writers were magicians capable of tossing off a sentence that meandered from semi-colon to semi-colon and managed to drag itself over a page—never losing the thread. I must admit I'm more at home with leaner language, but sometimes I enjoy the pace of longer sentences.

All this lead me to return to the novels that had been fostered on me when I attended Junior High School and High School. Returning to the Scarlet Letter or Moby Dick, I found myself totally engaged, enraptured with language.

There are writers today who aren't parsimonious about language, who engage in editing and honing their work until every paragraph, sentence, and word, speaks volumes.

My favorite writers seem to find quirky niches—aeries where they look out upon the universe.

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