Friday, April 29, 2022

Decorating

“The days that Patchett refers to are precious indeed, but her writing is anything but. She describes deftly, with a line or a look, and I considered the absence of paragraphs freighted with adjectives to be a mercy. I don’t care about the hue of the sky or the shade of the couch. That’s not writing; it’s decorating. Or hiding.  

—Alex Witchel, reviewing Ann Patchett’s These Precious Days, “Ann Patchett Has Thoughts on a Bunch of Subjects,” The New York Times, Nov. 19, 2021. (Thanks to alert WORDster Andrew Merton.)

 

 




• Editorial Comment: Wait. What color *was* the couch?

 

 

PeezPIX 

Out Now! The May issue of Senior News: A Good Time for Growing

 

 

 

 

 

 

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)
 
“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease
, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

No comments:

Post a Comment