Consulting 'the insides'

 Patricia Hampl has something called “insides,” places inside certain books that she often goes. She goes to see Becky Sharp throw Dr. Johnson’s dictionary out the window, rather than re-read the whole of Vanity Fair.

Most of her examples came from poetry: Blake’s grain of sand and Pound’s petals on a wet, black bough were among her favorites.

Poetry might have an advantage in this game. Lines of poetry are meant to be memorable.

My own insides? I was surprised how many short passages came from essays, letters, journals and collections of aphorisms. Montaigne, Thoreau and Woolf were among the essayists and journal writers. Among the letter writers: Roy Bedichek.

• Source: Patricia Hampl, The Art of the Wasted Day; New York: Viking, 2018, p. 160.