August 30th, 2009 / 9:32 pm
 Excerpts

Paragraphs That Make Me Warm (6): William Gass

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Now the horse was quiet and we were breathing careful and if the wind had picked up we couldn’t hear it or any snow it drove. It was warmer in the barn and the little light there was was soft on hay and wood. We were safe from the sun and it felt good to use the eyes on quiet tools and leather. I leaned like Hans against the wall and put my gun in my belt. It felt good to have emptied that hand. My face burned and I was very drowsy. I could dig a hole in the hay. Even if there were rats, I would sleep with them in it. Everything was still in the barn. Tools and harness hung from the walls, and pails and bags and burlap rested on the floor. Nothing shifted in the straw or moved in hay. The horse stood easy. And Hans and I rested up against the wall, Hans sucking in his breath and holding it, and we waited for Pa, who didn’t make a sound. Only the line of sun that snuck under him and lay along the floor and came up white and dangerous to the pail seemed a living thing.

– from ‘The Pedersen Kid’ in In the Heart of the Heart of the Country, pg. 60

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8 Comments

  1. August 31st, 2009 / 5:21 am Tim Horvath—

      I’ve been swigging a lot of Gass lately for a class I’m teaching called Unruly Fictions. In the Review of Contemporary Fiction devoted to him there’s a great essay called “Simplicities” that blows the lid off the myth that simplicity is simple. He distinguishes between Japanese aesthetics and a pioneer American frugality with words, preferring the former, no contest. Some of the simple-sounding sentences above made me think of that essay, even though ironically it could be a description of pioneers.

  2. August 31st, 2009 / 1:21 am Tim Horvath—

      I’ve been swigging a lot of Gass lately for a class I’m teaching called Unruly Fictions. In the Review of Contemporary Fiction devoted to him there’s a great essay called “Simplicities” that blows the lid off the myth that simplicity is simple. He distinguishes between Japanese aesthetics and a pioneer American frugality with words, preferring the former, no contest. Some of the simple-sounding sentences above made me think of that essay, even though ironically it could be a description of pioneers.

  3. August 31st, 2009 / 1:05 pm Brad Green—

      Indeed! He has many of those knock you on your ass paragraphs.

  4. August 31st, 2009 / 9:05 am Brad Green—

      Indeed! He has many of those knock you on your ass paragraphs.

  5. August 31st, 2009 / 1:49 pm Peter Markus—

      This is Gass at his most greatest, completely out of his own head.

  6. August 31st, 2009 / 9:49 am Peter Markus—

      This is Gass at his most greatest, completely out of his own head.

  7. August 31st, 2009 / 2:52 pm Ryan Call—

      i really like pedersen kid

  8. August 31st, 2009 / 10:52 am Ryan Call—

      i really like pedersen kid