Wednesday, February 9, 2022

Or maybe look at a story by Faulkner

 Joe Murray, the old editor in East Texas, used to point to a line in Faulkner’s story “The Bear.”

At one point, the boy who is the hero of the story gets close to the bear. Faulkner could have just said that the bear was very, very close.

Instead, he has the boy kneeling to examine a track. The boy can tell the track is fresh. But then he notices that the track is gradually filling with water. He watches the water seeping in. The bear was there just seconds ago — he hasn’t been gone long enough for the track to fill with water.

That’s the kind of detail that lets a reader feel the boy’s wonder and fear.

at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Wolfe: ‘The Far and the Near’

 Thomas Wolfe’s “The Far and the Near” is so short and so simple I wondered whether my high school English teacher would have counted it as ...

  • When Willa Cather's life began
     Willa Cather had a maxim: “Life began for me when I ceased to admire and began to remember.” She liked what the Greeks called  anamnesis , ...
  • Anthony Griffin: 'The Water Cries'
     Anthony Griffin set out to answer a couple of simple research questions: How many auction houses sold enslaved people in Galveston, Texas? ...
  • After the election
      People who are disappointed by elections ought to be careful about what they say — not out of fear of tyrants but out of concern for sprea...