Random
Grace Paley takes heads
She does. Honest. Takes head and doesn’t give them back.
Example from the story “Wants”:
He had had a habit throughout the twenty-seven years of making a narrow remark which, like a plumber’s snake, could work its way through the ear down the throat, halfway to my heart. He would disappear, leaving me choking with equipment.
Here’s what I notice about this: that shouldn’t have worked. The metaphor—the plumber’s snake entering the ear and making its way near the heart—should come off as cliche. Familiar. A little silly. Following it up with “…leaving me choking with equipment,” redeems it.
Writers: push a cliche to the point where it strains to near snapping and you revive it.
Man, that’s a funny line.
Tags: Cliches, Grace Paley, Plumber's Snakes, Wants
I haven’t read her in ages. She has some great sentences. I like your take on this one a lot.
Well put, man.
Well put, man.
that whole book is great. the sentences in it are fucking fantastic.
that whole book is great. the sentences in it are fucking fantastic.
I also like that its “choking with equipment,” and not “choking on the plumber’s snake,” or even “choking with THE equipment.” The ambiguity, the innuendo.
Good stuff. Thanks for the comments, everyone.
I also like that its “choking with equipment,” and not “choking on the plumber’s snake,” or even “choking with THE equipment.” The ambiguity, the innuendo.
Good stuff. Thanks for the comments, everyone.
i said ‘holy shit’ out-loud as i read this. but i didn’t even realize the stuff before ‘equipment’ was cliche, i suppose i’m a little naive. but i really like your take on the phrase ‘choking with equipment’, both the articulation and the ambiguity.
i said ‘holy shit’ out-loud as i read this. but i didn’t even realize the stuff before ‘equipment’ was cliche, i suppose i’m a little naive. but i really like your take on the phrase ‘choking with equipment’, both the articulation and the ambiguity.