White - a novel

13th July 2006 with 2 Comments

Marie Darrieussecq’s White opens as Pete Tomson, a heating engineer, in a plane and Edmée Blanco, a telecommunications engineer, in an old converted tug, arrive at the South Pole to help construct a permanent European base at the heart of Antarctica. The time is the near future.
Edmée’s journey, especially, reads like the description of a [...]

Filed under art, literature, quotations, reading, reviews, writing
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Wanted: Character for Novel

15th May 2006 with 4 Comments

I’ve told this story before, but every telling leaves something wanting. Here I am having another go at it.
I think it was a Monday night. We play on Tuesdays now, but back then there was a game on a Monday. We were on table 13, which is way over in the far corner, the one [...]

Filed under humour, writing
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About Writing:

Cross out as many adjectives and adverbs as you can. ... It is comprehensible when I write: "The man sat on the grass," because it is clear and does not detain one's attention. On the other hand, it is difficult to figure out and hard on the brain if I write: "The tall, narrow-chested man of medium height and with a red beard sat down on the green grass that had already been trampled down by the pedestrians, sat down silently, looking around timidly and fearfully." The brain can't grasp all that at once, and art must be grasped at once, instantaneously. Anton Chekhov

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